Sidra Medical and Research Center (Sidra) launched the day surgery service at its Outpatient Clinic, taking the high-tech medical services on offer to a new level.

"A surgery for inguinal hernia was performed successfully on a little boy," Dr. David Sigalet, medical director of the Outpatient Clinic and department chair of surgery at Sidra told Gulf Times.

“Inguinal hernia is a very common problem among boys as one in 200 is affected. The surgery took over one hour," he explained.

Peter Morris, chief executive officer, Sidra, announced that more surgery services in the other areas such as urology orthopaedics, plastic surgery and ENT among others will be added in the coming weeks.

"At present, we will be having surgeries at the outpatient clinic only for the paediatric patients,” he stressed.

Dr. John Ferguson, chief medical officer, Sidra, described the launch of paediatric day surgeries as an important milestone in Sidra’s roll-out of paediatric and women’s services at the Outpatient Clinic.

"Children can now be admitted to the Sidra Outpatient Clinic for minor surgeries or procedures and discharged the same day. The launch of every new service at the Sidra Outpatient Clinic is an opportunity for our expert staff to offer the best possible care to our patients and their families,” he explained.

Sidra will accept paediatric day surgery referrals from Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation and Qatar Foundation Primary Healthcare Centre. Sidra also has a pre-anaesthesia clinic where a paediatric patient’s medical history is assessed, and the advice of the surgeon and the anaesthesiologist help determine the cases eligible for day surgeries.

The paediatric day surgery service offered at Sidra include general surgical procedures such as inguinal hernia repairs, orchidopexy - a surgery used to bring the testes down, umbilical and epigastric hernia repairs, soft tissue biopsies and hydrocelectomy - surgery for removing fluid in the scrotum. Services will quickly expand to include procedures for ear, nose and throat, urological problems, minor plastic surgery and simple orthopaedic and ophthalmology procedures.

Dr. Sigalet observed that day surgery is a vital component of any healthcare service. "It allows sometimes acute conditions to be treated efficiently and effectively. It is very gratifying that paediatric patients can now be treated for more minor conditions which may not be life-threatening but which, nevertheless, can significantly impact a child’s life.”

The offical highlighted that prior to the launch of each new service at Sidra, the inter-professional teams of doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals involved in patient care go through rigorous training.This includes simulation training to analyse and perfect the patient journey and create highly functioning teams.