Plastic surgery: Not adequate facility

Ranchi, May 13: With cases related to burn injuries are on the rise in Jharkhand, the demand for having more plastic surgeons has grown. But none of the three medical colleges has a plastic surgery unit.

Jharkhand has a population of three crore but there are only nine plastic surgeons. This, despite the fact that Jharkhand has a large number of industries and mines where accidents are very common. In contrast, there are 24 plastic surgeons in Bihar.

President-elect of Bihar-Jharkhand chapter of Association of Plastic Surgeons of India Bharat Ramchandran said as per norms of a super speciality wing, normally there should be at least one plastic surgeon for every 25 lakh people.

But Jharkhand, being an industrial state, should have at least one plastic surgeon for every 10 lakh people. There are four plastic surgeons in Ranchi, three in Jamshedpur and one each in Hazaribagh and Chaibasa.

Interestingly, none of the three medical colleges of Jharkhand, RIMS, MGMCH or PMCH has plastic surgery units though there are burn wards in these institutes. However, there are plastic surgery units in private hospitals in Tata Main Hospital, Apollo Hospital and another in Bokaro.

?We would like to put pressure on the state government to open plastic surgery units in each medical college of to fulfil the requirement,? Ramchandran said.

The association will organise a conference, which will cover this and many other issues related to plastic surgery, on June 4 and 5 at Hotel Ranchi Ashoka. It will be attended by well-known experts from across the country. There will be separate sessions on burns, plastic surgery of every part, cosmetic surgery, surgery of breasts, trauma surgery etc.

?There is a general concept that plastic surgery is only cosmetic surgery, which is very costly. But the fact is that cosmetic surgery is only one per cent of plastic surgery. This is not a ?five star operation?,?said Ajay Kumar Singh, a plastic surgeon based in Ranchi.

Anant Sinha, another plastic surgeon, said many kinds of disability and born deformities can be corrected through the plastic surgery. ?Normally these are the aspects which are covered in plastic surgery. Cosmetic surgery is a very specialised type of plastic surgery and constitutes only one per cent,? he added.

The association members are taking steps to open a burn unit at Guru Nanak Hospital in Ranchi. Dr Anant Sinha will be the in-charge of the unit.