Health City streams live endoscopic procedure at medical education event

Close to 100 local doctors attend

Most guests heading to an event at the Kimpton Seafire Resort & Spa don’t expect to witness a medical education first during their cocktail hour. Nor do they usually watch a live medical procedure streamed in real time directly from a hospital operating theatre while enjoying a buffet dinner. But for 100 local doctors, this is exactly how they spent their evening at the Seven Mile Beach resort on October 29.

They were attending a Continuing Medical Education (CME) seminar sanctioned by the Cayman Islands Medical and Dental Society (CIMDS) and hosted by Health City Cayman Islands featuring a live stream directly from the tertiary care hospital’s Endoscopy Suite – where Senior Consultant Gastroenterologist Dr Sunil Mathai was suited up to perform an endoscopic procedure.

This was the first time in the Cayman Islands that a CME event has featured a live surgical feed directly from a local operating room, and the first time that such a large group of people could gather to view a procedure as it was happening.

Health City Clinical Director Dr. Binoy Chattuparambil said, “We are consistently striving to develop innovative ways of providing medical education opportunities within the local medical fraternity. The COVID-19 pandemic actually pushed us to think outside of the box in this regard, and we held several online CME events during the months of lockdown. This prompted us to think of using live streaming technology in a new way locally – by showing a live procedure in real time to a medical audience. The relaxation of local COVID-related restrictions allowed us to both gather together in person, while also taking advantage of what technology has to offer. So we thought of it as the best of both worlds.”

The live-streamed procedure was the centerpiece of the seminar, which put the spotlight on Health City’s Institute of Digestive Sciences comprised of Dr. Mathai and Dr. Deepak Varma, Senior Consultant, Gastrointestinal & Bariatric Surgery. Both specialists have over 20 years’ experience in their respective fields. Services offered by the Institute of Digestive Sciences include surgical, endoscopic and medical gastroenterology.

The procedure performed by Dr Mathai during the educational event was an endoscopic ultrasound-guided tissue acquisition (biopsy) – which is usually performed to determine or confirm a cancer diagnosis. Dr. Varma followed up with a presentation on the use of laparoscopy in pancreatic diseases, which makes treatment less invasive that open surgical procedures.

The panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Ajit Mathew - Consultant, General Surgeon at the Cayman Islands Health Services Authority and Dr. Darley Solomon - Senior Consultant, General Surgeon, at Doctors Hospital.

The event, which featured active audience participation during the question and answer sessions after each presentation, resulted in the award of two Continuing Medical Education (CME) points to each medical professional who attended.

The attendees included doctors in both the private and public health sectors in the Cayman Islands, from general practitioners to specialists in a range of medical specialties.

Health City Chief Business Officer Shomari Scott said, “Although initially frightening and potentially devastating, the COVID-19 pandemic had the positive effect of pulling local medical practitioners from all sectors together to tackle a universal problem. The combined effort of suppressing the virus in our Islands, also brought medical professionals together as never before. The benefit of this is greater knowledge of, and respect for, the wide range of medical expertise present within the Cayman Islands. We are looking forward to continued strong relationships between all local medical providers, and will be offering similar CME events on a regular basis moving forward.”