DOHA: Al Wakra Hospital (AWH) is working towards becoming a centre of excellence in hernia surgery by updating its surgeons’ skills through capacity building training workshops.
It aims at receiving accreditation from the American Hernia Society.
Around 50 surgeons from Hamad Medical Corporation, primary healthcare centres and other local hospitals have taken part in a workshop on hernia surgery recently at the hospital.
“We are holding the workshop as part of efforts to get accredited and accepted worldwide as a centre of excellence for hernia surgery,” said Dr Mohamed Soliman El Akkad, Senior Consultant, General Surgery, AWH, and workshop Chairman.
“We have invited Professor Tim Tollens from Imelda Hospital in Belgium who is an expert in laparoscopic surgery to help us establish this centre of excellence. Last year, about 250 cases were treated at our AWH and the number is expected to increase.”
Dr Tamer El Bakry, Senior Specialist and Member of the AWH hernia surgical team, said around 1,000 cases of different types of hernia are treated at HMC yearly.
Hernia is a condition where there is a protrusion of the contents of the abdomen through a weakness in the muscle or surrounding tissue wall. It can either be congenital or due to muscle weakness. “Patients doing physical work usually come at an early stage before the pain interferes with their daily activities, but patients not doing physical labour tend to come late, they are mostly women,” Dr El Akkad said, adding treatment can be done through open or conventional surgery or laparoscopic surgery.
The Peninsula
