Imagine this: An operation in South Korea. Watch it in Mumbai. Experts from Malaysia and Philippines discuss it threadbare. All at the same time. It became a reality at the Tata Memorial Hospital on Thursday.
There was a live surgical relay and conference, that too with crystal-clear images, a first-of-its-kind in India via Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) - Education and Research Network (ERNET) broadband connectivity.
The live international surgical relay consisted of a demonstration of laparoscopic (minimally invasive) surgery of early gastric cancer relayed from the Seoul National University and had a simultaneous interactive session between medical experts from National Oncological Centre in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and APAN conference being conducted in Manila (Philippines).
The APAN-ERNET network relays images using bandwidth between 30 to 60 mbps providing better clarity and hence promoting scope for better scholarly research in medical research. Though live conferences and workshops have been organised in India earlier, the bandwidths used didn’t enable clear transmissions.
Digital Video Transmitting System (DVTS), the technology used for transmitting images is provided free by APAN, a non-profit consortium of South Korea and Japan, working towards development of advanced networking environment for research and education communities in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Dr Parul Shukla, associate professor and gastro-Intestinal surgeon, Tata Memorial Hospital said: “The technology will help in organising more live surgical relays from various leading institutes across the world to train our doctors here and promote interaction with the medical fraternity.”
The technology can help connect eight centres at a time for a live conference with practically no time lag and image distortion. Though the Tata Memorial Hospital used the PAL video system on Thursday, it is in the process of procuring the NTSC system.
But Shukla is confident that with proper government aid, even medical institutes within the country would be able to use the technology on a regular basis, even for conferences.
Deepak Singh, director, ERNET, who was attending the APAN conference in Manila said: “We have sent proposals to the government to connect leading institutes in the country using this technology. Similar bandwidths can be achieved if government funds and supports this unparalled initiative.”
ERNET is a government organisation that works to provide state-of-the-art communication infrastructure and services to academic and research institutions in India.
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