Lanka Hospitals introduces new heart surgeries to Sri Lanka
View(s):Lanka Hospitals said this week it is now capable of performing heart lung transplant surgeries and minimally invasive (keyhole) cardiac surgeries, and is the only hospital in Sri Lanka that offers these surgeries to patients.
In order to perform the heart lung transplant surgery for the first time in Sri Lanka, the centre was equipped with the required instruments as well as the latest, most state-of-the-art equipment. The necessary capacity increases have also been done in terms of adding in new theatres, the hospital said in a public statement.’
Commenting on these developments, Dr. G. Gandhiji, Chief Resident Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Lanka Hospitals said, “Minimally invasive keyhole surgeries are a new concept which is being practiced in other developed countries around the world and can be carried out with no compromise to the quality or safety of the operation. These minimally invasive heart surgeries, which cause less pain, allow patients to recover much faster and carry on with their day-to-day lives unlike open heart surgeries. Minimally invasive surgeries also leave only a minor scar which is cosmetically more appealing and are thereby preferred by many patients.”
Heart lung transplants are a very rewarding operation which is not practiced in Sri Lanka. The operation is carried out on patients with end stage heart failure whose lifespan is only a few months. By offering heart transplants patients who have no hope at all can be given a new lease of life. The Lanka Hospitals Heart centre is currently in the process of organizing the logistics to perform these operations, the statement said.
Dr. Gandhiji qualified from the University of Peradeniya and subsequently obtained his postgraduate degree. He then attended higher heart surgical training in New Zealand at the Wellington Public Hospital and the Kids Heart Hospital in Auckland. Since his return to Sri Lanka he worked at the General Hospital in Kandy conducting both heart and thoracic operations, before joining Lanka Hospitals.