Hand and Microsurgery Operative Course goes virtual on Microsoft Teams with attendees from across the world
Ganga Hospital teaches live microsurgery using Microsoft Teams
Hand and Microsurgery Operative Course goes virtual on Microsoft Teams with attendees from across the world
COVID-19 has altered the way we work, learn and live. As frontline responders in the global health crisis, heal thcare institutions have swiftly adopted collaborative tools and cloud-based solutions to ensure continuity in providing quality healthcare and regular learning for the medical fraternity.
With face-to-face teaching suspended during the enforced closure, Ganga Medical Centre & Hospital in Coimb atore, Tamil Nadu, was exploring ways to continue conducting their Hand and Microsurgery Operative Course. Leveraging the power of Microsoft Teams, the hospital conducted its annual learning conference on July 11 and 12 with more than 550 surgeons from 27 countries in attendance.
Ganga Hand and Microsurgery Operative course is 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 cong enital hand problems, brachial plexus injuries, nerve injuries, wrist injuries and arthritis. The course is regularly attended by plastic surgeons and ort hopedic surgeons dealing with trauma and having special interest in hand surgery.
An on-ground videographer 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. During the two days, live surgeries by five leading surg eons were conducted in parallel with live voiceover added to the feed to explain nuances of surgical skills and te chniques.
“COVID-19 brought physical conferences to a halt, with no one being sure of the resumption of previous normalcy. Ad apting 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. Around 20 hours of surgical demonstration was possible every day and we were able to demonstrate 21 procedures. Microsoft Tea ms’ 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 Qu adra, who really helped us to reach out,” said Dr. S Raja Sabapathy, Chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery, Ganga Medical Centre & Hospital.
“Every crisis offers new learnings. Covid-19 is no different. This global crisis has made remote working, remote health care and remote lea rning the new normal. It is inspiring to see how our technology is hel ping healthcare institutions, do ctors and hospital staff collaborate seamlessly to deliver top-notch services to patients and provide real time-learning even amid such difficult situations. Microsoft India is honored to enable remote healthcare, consultancy and telemedi cine for many healthcare institutions. We are delighted to partner with Ganga Hospital in this unique project of a live in teractive surgery to audiences across the world,” said Samik Roy, Country Head, Modern Work, Microsoft India.
“This is a fine example of how technology can rise to the occasion and solve real life problems. Our expertise as a Micro soft Gold Certified Partner, together with our track record of 16 years of winning global partner of the year awards at Microsoft Inspire, including the 2020 Inspire Partner of the Year Award in the Modern Work category, has helped us architect a solution with Microsoft Teams. We could not just replicate but bettered a real-life meeting experience for a conference that showcased very intricate and complex microsurgery procedures. We delivered high-quality video that could enable this experience as well as real-time audio for live Q&A for a rich viewing experience. To ensure a holistic ex perience for the doctors, our team rose to the occasion and delivered a seamless support experience across 20 hours of li ve surgery,” said Prashanth Subramanian, Co-Founder & Director, Quadra Systems.
Healthcare institutions are reimagining the ways they treat their patients and help medical professionals learn new skills, irrespective of location. At Microsoft, we are committed to working with our partners in empowering every person and every organization to achieve more.
