Mr Krishna Kumar, RCSEd International Surgical Ambassador for Kerala, India and HOD & Sr Consultant Plastic surgeon in BMH, discusses recent engagement activities in Calicut.
RCSEd had a week of engagement activities in Calicut, Kerala, India in the first week of April 2024. These activities were conducted in association with Baby Memorial Hospital (BMH), a quaternary multispecialty hospital in Calicut, and were coordinated by myself.
2 & 3 April were spent setting up the 22 cubicles needed for the MRCS Part II OSCE examinations, and getting the scenarios ready in each of the 22 stations.
The examinations were conducted over a period of three days from April 4-6. 130 candidates had registered for the exam, which was conducted by the 30-member examiner team, College administrative staff and local support staff from BMH. We had a very high-profile examining team from the College consisting of President Professor Rowan Parks, Immediate Past President Professor Mike Griffin, Vice-President Professor Timothy Graham and Council members, and also the lead for general surgical training in the UK. In addition, there were examiners from all over India, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
On the social side, the examining team was treated to a traditional Kerala “Sadya” served on plantain leaves with all the local traditional delicacies on the night of April 4. The exam banquet conducted on the evening of 5 April was a grand affair hosted by BMH, where over 150 invitees and all the examining team was facilitated and mementos were given to the team. The College in turn thanked the hosts, and the examiners were given College memorabilia. This was followed by a two-hour cultural extravaganza consisting of traditional and western dances and songs. This was staged entirely by the hosting team and not a single person was hired from outside.
A “RCSEd Continuing Medical Education Day” (CME) was conducted on Sunday April 7. There were more than 300 registrations for the CME. The full day CME covered aspects like how the College can help trainees in India, how to prepare for the MRCS, how to go about obtaining a training post in UK, and information on the NOTSS and RAPID courses.
The night of April 7 was devoted to a “meet and greet” programme with the local surgeons. The turn out again was good, with around 100 surgeons from various surgical specialities participating. A short talk about the College was given for the benefit of the participants, followed by cocktails and dinner.
There is a proposal to start an accredited basic surgical training programme in Kerala. As a first step, the College conducted a formal accreditation inspection of BMH on Monday April 8. The inspection consisted of interactions with the hospital management, the Consultants who would be potential trainers, and the local surgical trainees, and also included a walk-through inspection of the hospital facilities.