News

On three days from 16-18th February 2017 we were delighted to help run the Society of Otolaryngologist’s of Nepal (SOL) biennial ENT conference in Pokhara.

The conference alternates between Kathmandu and other cities. About one year ago we requested that the next should be in Pokhara. We are very happy that the SOL secretariat made contact with us. Our friend Dr Devesh Singh, the ENT chief at the Government Western Regional Hospital in Pokhara became the chief local organiser. We all worked closely together to enable a special meeting with a strong emphasis on ear problems. We ran an extra conference day, of live ear surgery at the Ear Centre.

With a lot of help from the INF electrical and IT teams we were able to set up some new equipment paid for by our Swiss partner charity (SON) and bought in the UK and transported by Mike. This enabled us to have High Definition video images relayed from the operating room and the surgical microscopes directly to the main ear centre training hall, and to the theatre lounge. We also had audio feeds so that the audience could talk to the surgeons as they operated, and ask questions and debate techniques.

We were really pleased when numbers exceeded our expectations, with 96 doctors attending. We were even more pleased that the equipment all worked! We had a very reputable visiting surgeon (Prof. Vijay Hanurappa) from Bangalore in India, organised by SOL. Mr Jeremy Lavy from the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear hospital in London was organised by EAN. Jeremy has visited us before and we hope will do so again. He has a particular reputation for stapes and otosclerosis surgery. These surgeons and Mike were able to demonstrate several major middle ear operations. During the rest of the conference, all these three and our own Sandra Eisner, based in Pokhara on a research visa and analysing our ear camps data, plus short term visitor, Anne Markey, who is a senior ENT trainee in the UK, were able to give guest lectures, chair sessions, judge the research poster competition and present research papers. Anne won a prize for her short paper.

We all received plaques, certificates, rosettes and thanks! We are grateful that the course organisers also honoured the INF team from the ear centre for their excellent hard work.

All the surgeries went well and we are confident that the patients will do well. The wards were the busiest we have seen them so far, with all ward beds and private cabin beds occupied.

A small number of the conference delegates and organisers gather on the last day.

Prof. Vijay demonstrates to Dr Nirmal, one of our two staff ear surgeons

Mr Jeremy Lavy receives his plaque of thanks from Prof. Mishra