The Association of Minimal Access Surgeons of India (AMASI) today begins a certificate course in Minimal Access Surgery, for surgeons who wish to pursue their career in laparoscopy.

The course was inaugurated by chairman of Academic Council of Medical Council of India, Dr. Ved Prakash Mishra, at a function organised by AMASI at Gem Hospital and Research Centre here.

This will be the first certification course to be started by a professional organization to cater to the ever increasing demand for quality training in laparoscopic surgery, AMASI president, Dr. Suresh Chandra Hari said.

The surgeons selected for the course will have to undergo training in seven modules prescribed in the curriculum and will be in two semesters of six months each, he said.

In his address, Mishra asked AMASI, which has 7,500 members and second largest association of laparoscopic surgeons in the world, to constitute a Board of Studies, so that it can upgrade the knowledge from time to time.

Suggesting that the association also establish an accreditation unit for self attestation, Mishra also asked the surgeons to utilise the opportunity to upgrade their skills and make affordable the cost of treatment to poor and common man.

The founder-president of AMASI, Dr. C. Palanivelu, who is also the director of Gem Hospital, was conferred the Professor of Emeritus by Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Deemed University, Nagpur, for his outstanding contributions in the field of laparoscopy.