Renowned gastroenterologist and chairman of GEM Hospital and Research Centre, Coimbatore, C. Palanivelu has said that laparoscopic surgeries have become safer than open surgeries over the years with advanced technology and trained surgeons. He said that one need not hesitate to choose laparoscopy over open surgery.
Responding to a question on apprehension against laparoscopic procedures among the common people, during a brief interaction with reporters, Dr. Palanivelu, known for introducing laparoscopy for the first time in the south of India, said that laparoscopy was introduced about 30 years ago and it had been proved as a much safer procedure than open surgery.
“In laparoscopy, we have the advantage of viewing the subject 10 to 25 times bigger through magnification with enhanced clarity. The most important aspect of laparoscopy is the training of the surgeons. In fact, hereafter surgeries should be done using laparoscopy if experienced and trained surgeons are available,” he said.
Even in the case of cancer treatment, technology using ICG injection enabled us to see cancer cells in the tissue and removal of them had become less complicated, he added.
Regarding the COVID pandemic, Dr. Palanivelu said that a booster dose was essential to fight COVID infections now and high-risk people should take it. He said that countries and States were doing very well in vaccination programmes and India showed the world a cost-effective way of immunising the population.
