The College conducted the first two Basic Surgical Skills courses in Hyderabad, India between 1-4 August 2019 at ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad. ESIC Medical College, a government run institution provided excellent support and facilities through their Ireland-trained Dean, Prof M Srinivas, Paediatric Surgeon.
62 delegates from India and as far as Iraq and Nigeria benefited from the instruction provided by Mr Frank Curran and Mr Ali Mehdi from the College. They were supported by local and international faculty members. Dr Raghuram, International Advisor of the college also gave a keynote speech at the inaugural function.
The feedback from the participants was very positive and the courses were extremely well received prompting interest about courses from the College more widely in India. Dates for future courses in Hyderabad from the College are to be announced soon.
Educational institutions from Edinburgh have connections with the city of Hyderabad going back to 1862 when Col William McLean, a Scottish surgeon established the first medical school the forerunner of Osmania Medical College, the oldest medical school in the city. Dr Edward Lawrie, a student of Syme and James Simpson, established protocols of chloroform anaesthesia published in the Lancet in Hyderabad in the 1880s. More recently Hyderabad has held the MRCS Part B examination for RCSEd. Medical education in Iraq was also established by a physician, Harry Sinderson in 1927.
It is expected that these courses will mark a deepening of the College's continued commitment to surgical education in Hyderabad, India, and the Middle-East.