“It is a euphoric moment because you know that GI surgery is recognised,” says an elated Dr. G.V. Rao, director, chief of surgical gastroenterology, minimally invasive surgery and transplantation services at the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology. He was recently presented with the prestigious Dr BC Roy National Award by President Pranab Mukherjee in the field of developmental specialities. “I was in the US when I got a call from the medical council saying that I have been selected. It is a great feeling,” smiles Dr. Rao. In fact, while giving credit to the team, Dr. Rao, jokes, “Everybody’s heart says ‘lub dub’ and my Hyderabadi heart says ‘hydbad hydbad!”
Dr. Rao observes the award is an encouragement for specialities and feels fortunate to have witnessed the leaps in medical advancement. “If you look at developmental specialities, everything possible has happened in these last 25 years,” he avers. “When we were students, my gurus were my bosses and we used to see them operate. When technology came, it drastically improved the outcome. Technology is the guru for my students and they see procedures on screen.”
He predicts that technology will take integration of specialities to the next level. “I am glad that I will be in that generation,” he smiles and adds, “When specialities developed, endoscopy, radiation oncology, medical oncology and robotics developed in parallel but now all this is getting incorporated into surgery. Earlier for intra-operative chemotherapy or intra-operative radio therapy, patients would get operated and go for chemotherapy or radio therapy. Now, we give them during surgery itself. This has tremendously improved the outcome which was unbelievable earlier.” This integration has led to the doctors playing different roles. “Now I am a GI surgeon, oncologist and radiation specialist.”
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He has been a pioneer in the emerging technology of Natural Orifice Trans Luminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) also known as No Scar Surgery. “When we were students, the bigger the injection, the bigger the surgeon was deemed . With laparoscopy, the smaller the incision, the bigger the surgeon,” he states.
He speaks of the work being done in collaboration with institutes of technology. “We are interacting with Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Science and hopeful of seeing many innovative things which are going to change the entire way in which surgery can be done. Technology candidates will get posted into medical science institutes to see the procedures and innovate accordingly”
Although he has a busy schedule, Rao takes time for yoga and swimming. “Initially we never bothered to check. But now with age catching on, I try to take time out for exercise,” he says. Another interesting feature is that his presentations are interspersed with clips of science fiction movies. “I am not a movie-buff but when I am travelling, I pick up a few clips and incorporate them in the presentations. Every presentation will have 10 clips. In fact I had made a presentation to show the impact of science fiction on evolution of surgery. I find that what showed 20 years back is coming true,” he explains.
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He looks back at his 27-year medical journey.
“The best thing that has happened is me and Dr Nageshwar Reddy coming together. We started this concept 27 years back at a time when gastroenterology was not a speciality. The stomach was never given that kind of preference! Now, the scene has changed. If you ask PG medical students for their preference, they will now say GI surgery. It was a revolution and we are happy that we are part of it.”
Five things to look forward
* Robotics will take over. One has seen how the outcome improves with robotics technology
* Technology will be incorporated into all specialities.
* Integration of radiation and medical oncology will be big
* One will have more intelligent instruments coming in
* Surgical navigation; it is already playing a role in other fields
When we were students, the bigger the injection, the bigger the surgeon was deemed . With laparoscopy, the smaller the incision, the bigger the surgeon