Nair Hospital gets Maharashtra’s first state-of-art cadaver lab

The 101-year-old BYL Nair Hospital in Mumbai Central, one of the four tertiary care hospitals run by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has become the first public hospital in the state to get a dedicated cadaver laboratory, which will start operating from January 27.

The laboratory, which will have 10 operating tables, will provide an opportunity to hone the skills of the surgeons by allowing them to practise all the steps of any given operation on cadavers and evaluate possible errors that can be avoided in the actual practice.

Dr Uday Bhat, head of the plastic surgery department, who is spearheading the committee managing the cadaver lab, said, “It has an actual OT set-up with state-of-art OT tables, OT lights, instruments, and operating microscopes. We have such a set-up in the private medical colleges and doctors have to pay hefty fees to operate on cadaver bodies to get trained in these labs.”

While the cost of cadaver training in the private set-up is around ₹60,000-70,000 per candidate, Dr Bhat said it will be close to ₹12,000 at Nair hospital.

The laboratory has a storage facility for 20 bodies that will be kept at -24 degrees Celsius.

“The deep freeze facility with a temperature as low as -24 degrees Celsius helps to keep the tissues fresh. 24 hours before the surgery, the body will be kept in another storage facility at -4 degree Celsius. This will ensure the body remains fresh and gives the feel of an actual operation,” explained Dr Bhat. The hospital is also promoting cadaver body donation.

“Each body will be used optimally. The lab will be used by all branches of medical science. Learning and practising the procedure thoroughly at this lab, before the actual operation, will help hone the surgical skills of both trainee doctors as well as practising surgeons alike,” said Dr Bhat.

Dr Pravin Rathi, dean of Nair Hospital, said the lab will help young doctors learn surgery in three steps- cadaver training, mentorship, and operating under the supervision of a senior.

“At present, young doctors observe their seniors doing the surgeries. With the help of this lab, young doctors can dissect the cadaver bodies themselves and avoid the risk of complications while performing actual surgeries,” he said.

The first training session will train 24 doctors for nose and jaw surgeries. Last year, KEM Hospital in Parel became the first medical college in the public sector in Maharashtra to start a cadaver retrieval operation theatre. The centre was started in April with the aim to boost the organ transplant programme in the country. It holds training for doctors on cadaver bodies on how to retrieve organs from brain-dead patients.

“So far, the training was done in animal labs where pigs are used. The organs of a pig and its anatomy are closer to human anatomy. Getting a human cadaver involves legal issues apart from preserving it properly and therefore you need a dedicated programme to handle them. I am glad that the state finally has one in Nair Hospital,” said Dr Sanjay Borude, a well-known bariatric surgeon.

Dr Niranjan Agarwal, immediate past-president of Mumbai Surgical Society said the lab will help in the skill enhancement of young surgeons. “Training on a cadaver helps in better understanding of the anatomy. The lab will surely help in improving the confidence of the young surgeon along with skill enhancement,” he said. Hindustan Times