One of the 19 “miracle doctors” who operated two-year-old conjoined twins with eight limbs in 2007, Dr Sharan Patil will be among surgeons travelling to Dar es Salaam to conduct non-emergency surgery clinics.

Dr Sharan Patil

The Sanitas Medical and Diagnostic Centre Chief Executive Officer, Mr Murthy Venkateswaran, told the ‘Daily News’ that Dr Patil was coming together with specialists in orthopaedic (bones), gastroenterology (digestive system), ear, nose and throat and ophthalmology (eye problems) on September 17, 2012.

“His coming gives us tremendous credibility to have such a genius associated with us. People in Tanzania can use Sanitas with confidence,” he said.

In 2007, the story of Lakshmi Tatma, a two-year-old conjoined twin with eight limbs from a remote village in the district of Araria of the State of Bihar, India brought worldwide attention to Sparsh Hospital.

A marathon surgery that was led by Dr Patil constituted a large team of doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and including the famous paediatric anesthetist Yohannan John lasted 19 hours and resulted in a successful separation of the parasitic twin from the body of Lakshmi.

Mr Venkateswaran explained that it was the first time that surgery of this magnitude was conducted in India and that the entire treatment process was carried out free of charge through the Sparsh Foundation.

Conjoined twins occur in roughly 1 in every 200 identical twin pregnancies and are always identical.  The actual numbers for conjoined births vary from 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 100,000 pregnancies, and 40-60 per cent are stillborn, with many others dying within the first few days after birth. About 70 per cent of conjoined twins are female, the reason of which is unknown.

“Under Dr Patil’s stewardship, within 16 months, over 3000 major surgeries were performed on the lower middle and middle class strata of society at Manipal Hospital,” he revealed.

He said that the chief orthopaedic surgeon has a philosophy of providing quality healthcare to the common man without compromising and it earned him accolades from his compatriots and is the driving force for the establishment of Sparsh Hospital.

Hundreds of people in Dar es Salaam requiring non-emergency surgeries will have an opportunity to access this service, thanks to specialists from Narayana Hospitals in Bangalore, India who are expected in the country next month.

Patients seeking the services of these specialists will have to pay a consultation fee of 50,000/- and the specialists from September 18 – 20, 2012 will conduct surgeries at AMI Hospital under the aegis of Sanitas.

By MASEMBE TAMBWE, Tanzania Daily News

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