DA KI ROBOT YN SUMAR IA KIBA DONKAM SURGERY HA APPOLLO HOSPITAL, KOLKATA

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]Apollo Trinity Center Shalom awareness program cancer robotic surgery but liver transplant press conference awareness program Dr. Rajie Shahan, senior consultant in encore surgery multi-pity hospital Kolkata but renang Dr. Ramdep Ray, head of liver transplant department but senior consultant gastrointestinal surgery multi-pity hospital Kolkata press conference Dr. Rajie for robotic surgery, CEO Apollo Trinity Medical Center Trinity Medical Center Trinity Medical center.

[00:02:12]First of all, good afternoon everybody.

[00:02:14]Yeah, >> I thank our doctors super specialist doctors from Keta who have done the OPD and in the evening we have a CMA program where in association with MMSA and IMA Shalon uh at convention center where they imparting their knowledge to other doctors of Shalom.

[00:02:36]uh we uh at Apollo Shalom we are basically bringing all the super speciality doctors from various Apollo centers across India. Uh see what happens is whenever a patient comes at least the first level of consultation you are actually meeting the right kind of doctors where you'll be going to Kata and meeting them only you know or you're going to Chennai and meeting the doctors. So they come at your doorstep right and you get the first level of consultations uh the medication is done here in case any further intervention is needed then it is up to the patient where they want to go if they want to go to Kolkata in to Chennai whatever and at Apollo Shalom what we do is we basically builds that gap we organize your entire treatment that will be done in Kolkata or in Chennai right all consultation upon appointments everything is taken care by the team here so that when you go to Kolkata or go to Chennai or go to Kohhati you know everything is smooth right so the we are bringing a specialist doctor here super specialist doctors from various streams so what happens is they are giving you the specialized service right at your doorstep here instead of you going to go or Kolkata and showing to the doctor they are coming here So it's a big blessing for the people of the state and plus for our center also that we have such specialists coming from various ao centers to show.

[00:04:07]Hi I'm Dr. Rambi Pri. I head the liver transplant program. I was a leader at Buru Delhi Mula and then I started in the last four five years at Kolkata because I wanted to come back to my hometown and start a liver transplant program and Kolkata is now the only place in the entire east and northeast India where liver transplant happens regularly liver transplant whereas today now the most significant significant medical development that has happened in Shilong in the last few years. The biggest medical development is the opening of the airport.

[00:04:55]So now the distance from patient who is unwell to Kolkata is less than 2 hours.

[00:05:04]So this changes everything for Shilong.

[00:05:08]If the patient has a major for example a patient has a liver failure sometimes the patient needs a liver transplant in an emergency now earlier the patient would take almost 10 hours even if from here to guati and then by flight but now now that has become you are within 2 hours of the most modern medical care that is available anywhere in the world there is no treatment In our hospital there is no treatment that is not there. Any treatment that is there anywhere in the world is there and it is done by open surgery, by laparoscopic surgery, by robotic surgery. All options are there. But still the problem is now awareness.

[00:06:00]Awareness that this medical advanced medical care is there. It is affordable because sometimes the patients can afford sometimes they have insurance sometimes there's government funding and then after that there are patients who which there is NGO funding where it is possible by internet support social media crowdfunding so that all support is there what is important is that the patient reaches us at the right time now alcohol remains a big problem in the northeast and in other places fatty liver disease is a big problem. Fatty liver disease becoming severe liver cerosis requiring transplant. So in northeast we have both alcohol and fatty liver disease which lead to cerosis and the treatment of cerosis is liver transplant which now has a 90% chance of success.

[00:07:03]At the same time cancers are increasing and cancers in the tummy cancers stomach, colon, intestine, pancreas, liver, gallbladder of cancers we treat regularly and operation by open surgery, laparoscopic surgery, surgery happens regularly. So the only obstacle that is now there is awareness, awareness, awareness. People need to know that treatment is possible and that is why we are here to reach out to the patients of the northeast of Shilong and uh so that they have access to advice and then they can plan treatment. Dr. Rajiv Sharan will talk about cancers.

[00:07:52]I'm Dr. Rajiv Shahan. I'm a senior consultant in surgical oncology department in soic cancer is one of the most common cancer in it and especially northeast has a huge burden of headmic cancer.

[00:08:13]So why headache cancer is so common?

[00:08:16]Because people here use tobacco in different form. So either smokeless tobacco or it's smoking and alcohol. So these are the factors and leading to almost 80 to 90% of all hideenic cancer.

[00:08:35]So headed cancer is not a death sentence as it's a preventable cancer. So if you decrease tobacco consumption hedonic cancer incidence will come down significantly come down because that is the cause of headm cancer.

[00:08:55]Apart from tobacco use HPV cancer also common in this region especially for fangial cancer. So people should be aware about the causes of cancer and then comes prevention. So prevent prevention is possible decreasing use of tobacco consumption, alcohol consumption or HPV vaccines and then comes early detection because problem here is most of these patients present very late stage. So at late stage treatment options are limited.

[00:09:37]Treatment options are complex. Patient will require complex surgery. Rehab plastic surgery reconstruction.

[00:09:47]Apart from surgery patient will require radiotherapy. Patient may require chemotherapy.

[00:09:54]And if disease is not operable in that case patient may require chemotherapy, targeted therapy or imunotherapy.

[00:10:05]So those are very costly treatment and even after so much cost patient function will be compromised patient cosmetics will become to prevent all these if people are become aware about the early symptom. So that include any oral ulcer that is not healing in 2 to 3 weeks time.

[00:10:35]any oral white patch or red patch.

[00:10:39]Patient has difficulty in swelling.

[00:10:42]Patient has throat pain, persistent throat pain. Patient has persistent ear pain. Patient has neck swelling. Patient has thyroid swelling. So patient should not ignore these symptoms. So if these symptoms are there then patient and these are persisting for more than 2 weeks time then patient has to be evaluated by a specialist.

[00:11:13]If patient goes to a specialist at that time then cancer can be detected in early stage. Early stage means stage one or stage two when treatment is just single modality treatment. Patient can be cured with just only surgery or just only radiation. So toxicity will be very less. Patient function will be preserved. Patient cosmetis will be preserved and patient prognosis will be very good. Cure rate will be as high as 80% 90%.

[00:11:50]But if patient ignore the ignores the symptom then that becomes advanced lesion and mostly from patients from these areas northeast region they present very late. So at that point of time treatment is complex as I mentioned earlier patient will require 10 hours surgery 8 hours surgery patient will require radiation patient will require chemotherapy even after such complex treatment prognosis will be bad maybe 50% or 60%. But still head neck cancer even with advanced stage treatment is possible and still that will be 50 to 60%.

[00:12:38]So now our aim a goal of cancer treatment is not curing the disease only. Cure is obviously the most important goal for head and cancer treatment or any cancer treatment. But apart from cure patient should all also have good quality of life. Patient speech should be preserved. Patient following function should be preserved or patient should have access to good rehabilitation services, good dental services. So all these factors are important.

[00:13:16]So also now now lot of young people are also having cancers especially thyroid cancer is a disease of younger female and there treatment is like you give a big scar on the face in the neck. So to avoid these scars to make surgery less complicated less with less complications. Now options of robotic surgery is there. So in robotic surgery you didn't don't give any incision in the neck. So that can't be visible. So you do from chest or transoral or from behind the ear. So nothing vis will be visible to other. So young patients these are very good options. Patient goes home maybe next day or way tomorrow.

[00:14:15]patient will have less pain and in robotic surgery that that gives 10 times magnification. So each and every structures we can identify and preserve and that gives very good function good cosmosis and with good fun cos cancer oncological outcome. So my advice to people here in Meghal will be to decrease tobacco use in different forms all forms decrease alcohol consumption be aware about SPV vaccination because parenial cancer is quite common and if you have symptoms then don't ignore those symptoms you go to a specialist get investigated and according Accordingly you take treatment so that your cancer should be detected at early stage and at that point of time cure rate will be very high. Patient will have good function. Patient will have good cosmosis. Patient will have good quality of life. So head and neck cancer is not a death sentence. It's a preventable cancer and if it detected early then can be cured in majority of patient. Thank you.

[00:15:46]>> Words or motivation for those people who who have a cancer so that to encourage them to to come or show up to to the doctor the main doctor so that they they will get cure. So if we say someone has viral disease, no one says like that.

[00:16:03]For example, AIDS is a viral disease, common cold is a viral disease and COVID is a viral disease. But we don't regard AIDS as the same as uh common cold. We know they are very different. But when we talk about cancer very often people use the term loosely saying you know I have cancer. Now someone who has a thyroid cancer papillary thyroid cancer first stage is a very simple disease which is expected to live for decades normally. But someone who has an advanced pancreatic cancer or an advanced gallbladder cancer which has spread if he's not treated at the right time he will die within 3 4 months.

[00:16:53]So the word cancer we use that to refer to everything but we have to start talking in terms of the type of cancer.

[00:17:03]So some cancers the result are very good some cancers the results are very bad.

[00:17:09]Now among the type of cancer a stage one cancer and a stage 4 cancer are completely different. So if I have a cancer for example if I have a colon cancer or if I have a prostate cancer or if I have a papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland and if it's picked up at the right stage then most probably I will never die of that cancer. I may die of other things. I will go on to lead normal lives. But a stage four cancer is can be sometimes can be very bad. So the responsibility that I have that every person has is because we have access to internet, we have access to media, we know there is something called cancer.

[00:18:02]We know everyone is telling that you have to pick up cancer at the early stage. So when someone is having certain symptoms for example patient is having a lump anywhere a swelling patient is having a patch a new uh area inside the mouth on the face on the skin if someone is having bleeding in stool or vomiting of blood there was one patient who I saw today she's completely okay but what she said was she went out. I had completed my prescription. She went out and then came back and said, "Doctor, one thing I forgot to tell you. My weight was 75 kilos in December and it is now 67 kilos. I have lost 8 kilos of weight.

[00:18:51]Are you sure?" She said, she said, "Yes, my clothes have become loose." So, there is a clear proof that she has lost weight. And immediately I wrote out a number of tests because unexplained weight loss I'm not dieting. I'm not trying to lose weight and my weight is going down and down. That must be investigated. If someone is having constipation always for many years and that person suddenly suddenly has diarrhea repeated you know going to the toilet again and again. This is called change of bowel habit.

[00:19:27]or someone who goes to the L to the toilet two to three times passes through two to three times many years and says now suddenly I have constipation we are worried this may be a cancer of the colon or the rectum so these warning signs jaundice yellowing of the eyes okay so any swelling anywhere in the body any new patch anywhere in the body any vomiting of blood passing blood it's in stool food, lapse stools, jaundice, unexplained weight loss and lastly loss of appetite, not feeling hungry, looking at food but not feeling. These are the warning symptoms and we have to you know you need to be we need to be good doctors for which we need to do certain things and there is a saying that we also need to be good patients. How can we become good patients? By following doctor's advice, by doing the things that the doctor is advising and also to reach medical care quickly when these warning signs are there and this is going to save lives. Preventing or detecting early will save more lives than fancy complicated treatment.

[00:20:49]something bad if we avoid it then we'll miss out on the good so internet gives us a lot of information we have to use it we have to exploit so we know for example I have told you about the warning signs of cancer and some of you will forget it now 6 months later or 6 years later you may remember that you know he had said there are certain warning signs so you go to Google type in warning signs of cancer or warning signs of oral cancer then you get to see do you have that great so the first part of your question that people read from the internet they get information from the internet they even try to make a diagnosis on the internet nothing wrong with that that's brilliant we have to encourage people to do more of it you come up saying that you know I think I have ependicitis great it may be wrong but at least you think it is something serious enough to go to the internet check and then come to a doctor and the doctor may tell you you don't have appendicitis but you have some form of a colum tumor so you thought appendicitis but you came and were diagnosed as colum cancer so ultimately your Google search although wrong helped you problem is the last part that you asked self-medicate that is not okay self-medication has to stop and even before the beginning of this internet thing. Patients in India are dying regularly because of self-medication.

[00:22:24]They are not dying because they are taking the medicine. Someone else is dying because of the medicine. So India is the antibiotic resistance capital of the world.

[00:22:37]Antibiotics are not working. Reason for that is we take antibiotics without even consulting doctors. we just take it and what that h does is you have an infection and then you don't complete the course of antibiotics.

[00:22:55]So what happens if if there are 100 or 1,000 bacteria in your body, you take a wrong antibiotic or you take half the course of antibiotic and out of those thousand bacteria in your body, 900 die, 100 live. Which 100 live? The bacteria that are strong that are resistant. Now what happens? The weak bacteria will die off. The strong bacteria stays and then they grow and then they infect someone else. They go on to another person's body. He takes long antibiotics. Shorter duration.

[00:23:31]He has thousand bacteria. 950 die. 50 live. The strongest bacteria. So what are we doing? By taking antibiotics, we are keeping alive the stronger resistant bacteria and passing it on to our neighbors.

[00:23:50]And to add to this process, we are giving cyprofluxin tablet to cows and animals.

[00:24:01]This is a big problem that people give cyprolroxin tablets to animals along with the food so that they don't have infection and the same thing happens. So now in the soil in the water in the surroundings there is bacteria which have become more and more dangerous as they have been half treated in humans and animals and so we have resistant bacteria and so the infections that we happen that people in India are getting and the infections people in say Norway uh are getting they're very different we all have respect. So now you need stronger antibiotics. Antibiotics which are more expensive. Antibiotics which cannot be given at home. Antibiotics for which we are hospitalized.

[00:24:52]So antibiotics kill more patients in the long term.

[00:24:59]So we need to reduce self- medication and more and more antibiotics have to be available only on doctor's prescription.

[00:25:07]You can't should not be just able to go and do this is a big big problem that we have.

[00:25:16]>> We have discernment that over here in the medical treatment is not up to the mark. So what kind of like detections or anything patients can have here uh they can come in the clinic or something like that so that they can be detected as you said the detection is very important part. So >> yeah so as uh uh meal facil medical facilities over meal has improved over whole of northeast region even eastern region Kolkata was also previously lagging behind but now with good centers coming up in different part of eastern region especially Kolkata so lot of progress have happened so similarly Shilong Shriillong has good medical facilities now. So but people are still not aware about those patient try the try to avoid going to a doctor they don't accept that they have a major problem in his in their body. So until unless they become aware about those symptoms those symptoms as I mentioned those are symptoms of head and neck cancer. So if they are aware about this those symptoms then obviously they will go to a specialist and get evaluated. So that is your duty media duty to spread awareness so that these patients can be detected at early stage. So now lot of like doctors also previously they were not that much aware what these symptoms but with awareness camp campaign and all they will be aware so people will be aware and that these awareness program will lead to early detection of cancer.

[00:27:09]So if so if facilities are not here in that case obviously that facilities will be coming if in future in different centers here itself but modern treatment facilities may take time here but that is also available just closer to northeast that is in Kolkata you don't have to travel to sa Chennai Bangalore Delhi Bombay because everything is available in Kolkata So with because that that is as Dr. Rami mentioned that Shirong is just only two hours away from Kolkata. So gradually like one center if eastern region develops then obviously surrounding first main one city if Kolkata develop then gradually that other cities will also develop. So gradually that modern treatment will come to each and every city of northeast as well as eastern India.

[00:28:10]>> So recently you have mentioned that uh from especially here in Mallaya most probably people are uh the main cause of the cancer is you just mentioned just now is from consuming tobacco.

[00:28:19]>> Yeah.

[00:28:20]>> Do you think those people who doesn't consume tobacco what is the main cause or or is there any genetic cause of cancer for them?

[00:28:30]>> Yes. So as I mentioned tobacco is responsible for around 80% of cancer. I didn't tell 100%. So 20% may be from different reason. So one important reason for if you take oral cancer. So just not only tobacco if you have frequent oral bite, if you have frequent tongue bite or cheek bite that can also cause cancer because there also inflammation happens repeatedly and that can transform those cells into cancerous cell. So if you have frequent oral bite, tongue bite or cheek bite then you have to go to dentist and that sharp tips should be grinded properly so that again that can like same injury should not happen again. So those are also important and apart from this there is a viral origin of cancer as well as I mentioned HPV that is human papilloma virus that is also one of the main reason for fngial cancer. So in plain area if you see other part of India fngial cancer due to HPV as such that is not very common maybe around 15% or 20%.

[00:29:49]But in northeast region that incidence may be high. In western countries if you see fangial cancer almost 80 to 90% is due to HPV. So in northeast region that incidence is also becoming similar to what western countries are having. So apart from these alcohol also that can cause cancer. Supari use because here as I I came I come to know that here they use fermented supari >> coin. So that is also important reason for cancer. If you daily you used if you use repeatedly then that can cause subnucus fibrosis and that will lead to oral cancer. So tobacco is main tobacco supari is main culprit. Alcohol is also also causes head and neck cancer. So these are the common causes of cancer.