Substantial investment has provided the healthcare industry of Dubai with a world-class healthcare Infrastructure. The Minimally invasive industry is growing but service provision remains dependent on overseas doctors. Slowly the entire emirates is focusing on medical tourism. To address this Dubai has become one of the key regional centres for medical education. Local medical schools provide a good standard of education and are now producing a substantial number of graduates. However, postgraduate education is less advanced and most of the laparoscopic or robotic surgery trainees continue to work towards internationally recognised qualifications such as the Fellowship or Diploma in Minimal Access Surgery. The World Laparoscopy Hospital has a lot to offer in these circumstances as it has a track record in supporting the development of minimal access surgical education and training in many countries around the world.
Development of professional relationships through laparoscopic and robotic surgery training serves to forge valuable links for both the Delhi and Dubai branch of World Laparoscopy Hospital. WORLD LAPAROSCOPY HOSPITAL HAS OPENED THE FIRST MINIMAL ACCESS SURGICAL SKILLS COURSE IN DUBAI. Basic laparoscopic surgical skills form one of the foundations of good minimally invasive surgical practice. In the UAE surgical skills courses are well established. However, these courses are in demand beyond the Dubai; the College has successfully adapted them for over 45 countries around the world. Most recently courses have been run in Healthcare City, Dubai. On this occasion the World Laparoscopy Hospital was invited to provide a surgical skills course in Dubai.
The laparoscopic course was adapted to meet local needs and was provided according to the guideline of World Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons. The course was held at the postgraduate medical education centre of the World Laparoscopy Hospital, Dubai. The centre is well equipped for lectures and has wet laboratory facilities. The College provided the instruments and all tissues were prepared by the faculty.
The participants at World Laparoscopy Hospital, Dubai are mainly surgical trainees within a few years of qualifying there surgical or gynaecological residency. Although there were also senior obstetric trainees. This reflects the course’s broad appeal and the need for basic minimal access surgical skills training across surgical specialties. It is a truly international course with ten nationalities represented, mainly from Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. This was hardly surprising as 85% of the population of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is expatriate.
We greatly enjoyed teaching and finding out more about surgical life in Dubai. Trainees at first appeared sceptical about starting with basic laparoscopic knot-tying but quickly discovered the benefits of consolidating core skills before moving on to bowel and vascular anastomoses. There is great demand for laparoscopic training but unfortunately not the facilities to deliver it. It reminded us how fortunate the World Laparoscopy Hospital is to have the newly refurbished clinical skills unit. The feedback of trainee laparoscopic surgeon and gynaecologist was good and there was considerable interest in participation in clinical activities.