Tagore Theatre turns Operation Theatre, live procedure beamed from Mukat Hospital

Live angioplasty procedure transmitted
Common man’s date with Cardiac procedures
Chandigarh, April 3,2010
Around 1000 people, from various walks of life, had a date with angiography and angioplasty surgical procedures at Tagore Theatre today.
The procedure was transmitted live from Mukat Hospital Cath Lab to Tagore Theatre with Dr Sudheer Saxena Senior Consultant, Invasive Cardiology and Director of Cardiac Cath, Lab at Mukat Heart Institute performing live procedure.
Anu Chatarath, Mayor, Chandigarh inaugurated this live transmission. Famous actor and comedian Mehar Mittal, VC Sikh World University Fatehgarh Sahib Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, MLA Barnala Kewal Singh Dhillon, MLA Guruharsahay Rana Gurmeet Sodhi, DIG Punjab Police SK Asthana, SSP Vigilance Punjab Police Surinder Pal Singh, C.G.M, BSNL Punjab Circle P.K. Paliwal, Mother of Perfect Bride Sudesh Rani Chauhan and Neeraj tayal Director Bank of Rajasthan too graced the occasion.
“This is a unique initiative to make people aware that angiography or angioplasty is not an operation but a procedure that is performed with patient under local anesthesia. Patient undergoing procedure is wide awake,” said Dr Saxena while talking to the gathering.
First case beamed was a diagnostic heart angiography procedure, which showed the way angiography is done. Dr Sudheer Saxena showed audience at Tagore Theatre the angiography room at Mukat Hospital.
The room, known as cardiac cath lab, Dr Saxena exhibited its components that include X-ray tube, camera, patient table, monitors etc. He discussed clinical symptoms of ailment and need for angiography.
In the most educative part, Dr Saxena demonstrated, step by step, the heart angiography procedure beginning with position patient is laid down and administering of local anesthesia.
Dr Saxena showed the equipment (catheters and wires) that are used and the way these catheters are inserted inside patient's arteries followed by the actual filming of the Coronary arteries under the X-Ray.
During the transmission, camera focused on face patient undergoing procedure and he too interacted with the audience answering some of the questions. Similarly, therapeutic procedure i.e. Angioplasty procedure (Stenting) was also beamed live.
Dr. Ravi Inder Singh, Medical Director, Mukat Hospital pointed out that many people suffer from heart ailments but do not undergo interventional procedures like angioplasty or angiography out of fear of an operation.
Dr Saxena told the audience of live surgery that simple lifestyle and dietary changes ensure healthy heart. “But still if someone fall victim to heart ailment, the solution is not to become fearful. Instead, when controlled in initial stages, heart problems later do not require bypass surgery,” he asserted.
Over 20000 angioplasties have been performed at Mukat Hospital in last ten years with more than 99 percent success rate that matches international standards. Dr Saxena has to his credit performing ten angioplasties in five hours.
Earlier, the session began with a short animation video showing angiography. Physician Dr Sandeep Jassal and Cardiologist Dr Amit Gupta anchored programme and detailed audience about preparations patient requires before coming to hospital. They spoke on kind of cases that require angiography and those that cannot undergo this procedure.
The interactive live show saw many participants hurling volley of questions at Dr Saxena and clearing their doubts. After completing the procedure, Dr Saxena had one-to-one interaction with the audience at Tagore theatre itself.
Friends of Mukat - patients who had undergone angioplasty at Mukat shared their experiences with audiences about procedure and hospital stay.