Advocating laparoscopic knowledge via workshop

Second row, 11th from left: Dr Ismail, Prof Affirul, Prof Ng, Prof Chin, Toh, Renugkha and Dr Sherreen with the participants

“MSSS X UTAR Laparoscopic Workshop 2019” was jointly organised by UTAR Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) and Malaysia Student Surgical Society (MSSS) on 23 March 2019 at UTAR Sungai Long Campus.

The workshop aimed to provide medical students with early exposure towards laparoscopy by providing the participants with basic laparoscopic knowledge and psychomotor skills via hands-on laparoscopic activities. The workshop also aimed to promote, enhance and maintain the interest towards surgery among Malaysian medical students.

Present at the workshop were FMHS Deputy Dean for Academic Development and Undergraduate Programmes Prof Dr Ng Teck Han, Department of Surgery Clinical Prof Dr Chin Kin Fah, International Medical University (IMU) Senior Lecturers Dr Sherreen Yehia Zakaria Elhariri and Dr Ismail Abdul Sattar Burud,Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) Senior Medical Lecturer Assoc Prof Dr Affirul Chairil Ariffin, MSSS President-cum-IMU student Aravinthan Kadravello, Vice President-cum-IMU student Renugkha Nair Krishnan Nair,Head Of Surgical Activities-cum-Organising Chairperson Toh Ee Syuen,  UMMI Surgical Sdn Bhd Technicians Grace Tan and Nicole Yeoh, Laparoscopic workshop Co-chairperson Wong Xian Jie and 35 students from 14 universities including UTAR.

Toh sharing the history of laparoscopy

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Toh briefly introduced laparoscopy and said, “Laparoscopy was first performed in the 1900s on dogs. It was largely ignored by the surgeons in the beginning until the year 1980. In 1980, the general surgeons revolutionised the laparoscopy by inventing new techniques and treatment plans along the way. Hence, the moral of the story tells that it is fine if you have invented something that people don’t recognise because someday people might appreciate it.”

Aravinthan encouraging medical students to learn laparoscopic skills

Aravinthan, on the other hand, said, “This workshop intends to spark students’ interest towards surgery. In Malaysia, undergraduate students do get access to handle laparoscopic equipment. However, laparoscopic exposure only begins when they become medical officers. Unlike countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, students practise laparoscopic equipment on a regular basis which leaves us far behind. Hence, instead of waiting for an event like this, I hope all of you would take up the initiative to learn laparoscopic skills. All the equipment and methods to prepare a laparoscopic box are available online. Don’t ignore learning just because you are not expected to do it now. You must take the initiative to learn beyond the curriculum of a medical school. Suturing and laparoscopy skills can be enhanced if you keep practising.”

Renugkha introducing MSSS to the participants

Renugkha briefly introduced MSSS and said, “MSSS first began as an initiative to bring together and to foster ties between surgical students from all over the world, who share common interest in surgery. Currently, we have managed to bring 20 university ambassadors from universities countrywide and it is to their commitment that we managed to go through today’s workshop together. It is our honour to collaborate with UTAR for our first Laparoscopic workshop for undergraduate students. We hope to have more collaborative events in the future with other universities as well.”

Prof Ng

Prof Ng welcomed all the participants and said, “This workshop aimed to provide medical students with an early exposure to Laparoscopic knowledge and provide the opportunity for them to gain hands-on experience. I believe today’s workshop will benefit all the participants and I hope that the participants will learn as much as possible in this workshop.”

Prof Affirul

Last but not least, Prof Affirul, representing MSSS Advisor Prof Dato’ Dr Kandasami Palayan said, “Hopefully after this workshop, more people will be interested in surgery. This workshop is run entirely by medical students. Hence, this is definitely a good start and exposure for all of us. I hope that MSSS will continue to grow and organise more workshops in the future.”

After the souvenir exchange session, two parallel workshop sessions, namely “Laparoscopic Workshop” and “Suturing Workshop” took place.

Four activities were carried out in the “Laparoscopic workshop”, which were “Stack the polo mints”, “Cut the gloves”, “Go through the holes” and “Intracorporeal knot tying”. According to Wong, students did not get a proper chance to practice with the laparoscopy instruments. This workshop did not only provide an opportunity for them to obtain early exposure but also provided a platform for them to train and master their skills.

Meanwhile, in “Suturing Workshop”, chicken skins and instruments were provided by the MSSS. Suturing is used to close up wounds. Different wounds require different types of suturing method. Some of the examples given were simple intermittent suturing, continuous suturing and subcuticular suturing. During the workshop, the participants were taught to do simple interrupted suturing and continuous suturing. “Suturing skills are very important. Unfortunately, medical schools do not provide much opportunity for the students to master this skill, which is why MSSS planned to organise this workshop for them,” said Wong.

The Laparoscopy Simulators were sponsored by UMMI Surgical Sdn Bhd. UMMI Surgical Sdn Bhd is the exclusive distributor for Karl Storz Endoscopy in Malaysia. 

Dr Ismail (left) presenting a token of appreciation to Prof Ng (Clockwise, from top left), Prof Chin, Dr Sherreen and Prof Affirul

Renugkha presenting a token of appreciation to Dr Ismail

Participants at Suturing Workshop 

Participants at Laparoscopic workshop