Coimbatore : With face-to-face teaching suspended during the enforced closure due to pandemic, Ganga Medical Centre and Hospital here is exploring ways to continue conducting their Hand and Microsurgery Operative Course.

Leveraging the power of Microsoft Teams, the hospital conducted its annual two-day learning conference from July 11 with more than 550 surgeons from 27 countries in attendance.

Ganga Hand and Microsurgery Operative courses an annual conference that covers discussion between the operating faculty and the delegates on aspects of hand surgery from a minor trigger finger to reattachment of a totally amputated finger.

This year the course included examples of congenital hand problems, brachial plexus injuries, nerve injuries, wrist injuries and arthritis and the course is regularly attended by plastic surgeons and orthopedic surgeons dealing with trauma and having special interest in hand surgery.

An on-ground video grapher provided the live feed from specialized audio and video equipment installed in the four operating theatres. The live feeds were sent over Microsoft Teams and broadcast using Microsoft Stream to a global audience extending from Australia to Argentina.

Live surgeries by five leading surgeons were conducted in parallel with live voice over added to the feed to explain nuances of surgical skills and techniques, during the conference.

“COVID-19 brought physical conferences to a halt, with no one being sure of the resumption of previous normalcy. Adapting to change is important to grow. At Ganga, we wondered if we could still do the popular annual live hand operative course. Instead of telecasting to our own auditorium, Microsoft Teams enabled us to telecast it to the world, Chairman Department of Plastic Surgery of the Hospital, Dr Raja Sabhapathy said.

Around 20 hours of surgical demonstration was possible every day and we were able to demonstrate 21 procedures. Microsoft Teams’ high definition streaming was flawless, enabling surgeons view structures less than a mm in size, even better than being at Coimbatore. We were impressed by the capability of the product and the passion of the support team at Quadra, who really helped us to reach out,” Sabapathy said.

Microsoft India is honored to enable remote healthcare, consultancy and tele-medicine for many healthcare institutions. We are delighted to partner with Ganga Hospital in this unique project of a live interactive surgery to audiences across the world,” said Samik Roy, Country Head, Modern Work, Microsoft India.