Madurai :

It is celebration time for the department of plastic surgery at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) here, as it enters its Golden Jubilee year. The department, then named ‘Plastic and Facio-Maxillary Surgery’ centre started functioning with 12 beds from January 26, 1964, thanks to the efforts of Dr Sam C Bose, one of the pioneers of plastic surgery in the country.

The centre was the second to be started in the state after the one in Government Kilpauk Medical College, Chennai. Now, it has become the only plastic surgery department across all government hospitals to provide comprehensive treatment for all kinds of problems including cleft lip and palette surgery, critical burns injury, hypospandias and other congenital disorders correction and facial ortho correction for accident victims.

To ensure that the standards are maintained high at the department, many retired heads of department and professors still contribute to help shape up the plastic surgeons. Every Saturday, about four retired professors and eight faculty members would teach the six postgraduate doctors. The special attention has helped the students of the department to excel in their field. PG students of the department consequently won gold medals at the Dr MGR Medical University for the year 2012 and 2013, said R M Raja Muthaiya, head of the department. The PG seats and two seats for MCH available in the department are much sought after by the students.

Best cosmetic, reconstructive and hand surgeons in the United Kingdom – Dr Mehboob Ali from Ilayankudi and Dr J Srinivasan from Rajapalayam are alumnus of the Madurai Medical College, said 84-year-old Dr Bose, who founded the department.

Within few months of its inception, the centre became famous for accurate surgeries. As many as 100 children with cleft lip problem were operated in just three months. The department was sought after so much that people from all parts of Tamil Nadu thronged the centre. The 2,600 cleft lip conducted by Dr Bose between 1964 and 1987 in his tenure was one of highest number of procedures in the world at that time.

The department was pioneer in all the developments in plastic surgery then. Specialists like Dr Harold Keith McComb from Australia along with a team visited the department and stayed here for three weeks in September, 1964. They were stunned by the department’s performance as it was advanced on a par with any hospital in the world, Bose said reminiscing the old days.

Now, the department treats around 600 critically-ill burn injury patients. However, cleft lip surgeries drastically reduced to just one or two in a month since Smile Train, an NGO, not only does it free but also provide monetary assistance to parents of the children.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai> Plastic Surgery / by V. Devanathan, TNN / January 25th, 2014