(Seychelles News Agency) - Less pain, medicine, recovery time, risk of infection and scars are all benefits of newly introduced minimally invasive surgical procedures now being practised at the Seychelles Hospital.

Specialists at the hospital are switching to minimally invasive surgical procedures, now that the Ministry of Health has improved them. This new approach will benefit patients requiring surgical interventions to treat appendicitis, slipped discs and hip fractures among others.

Minimally invasive surgery approaches the abdomen or the chest through small incisions in the abdominal wall, Danisela Chetty a laparoscopic surgeon at the Seychelles Hospital, told a news conference on Tuesday.

Chetty added that instruments are used to diagnose abdominal organs and treat certain diseases without the need for long open surgeries.

“This gives patients quite a lot of benefits - less pain, shorter recovery times, shorter time periods before they can resume work and their daily lives, reduced risk of infections and of course this reduces the strain on the hospital and reduce costs,” said Chetty. 

A former patient having undergone minimally invasive surgery, Barnsley Albert, told the news conference that “after five to six hours after surgery I was up and walking.” (Seychelles Nation) Photo License: CC-BY

Laparoscopy surgery is done through one or more small incisions, using small tubes and tiny cameras and surgical instruments.

A former patient having undergone minimally invasive surgery, Barnsley Albert, told the news conference that “after five to six hours after surgery I was up and walking.”

“It was something that I wasn't expecting to be able to do. I had no pain. I had four small incisions, the scars of which are already fading, three weeks following the surgery. I started working five days after the surgery with no complication," said Albert

Investments in this type of procedure have been made by the ministry and sponsors over the past two years. Funds were used to obtain new equipment and give training to health professionals, culminating in the introduction of laparoscopy, and other minimally invasive surgeries.

Other minimally invasive surgeries being performed at the main public hospital in Seychelles – a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean - include gallbladder surgery, orthopaedic surgery, as well as ear, nose and throat surgery.

Since December 2018, over 45 minimally invasive surgeries have been performed at the Seychelles Hospital.

The chief executive of the Health Care Agency (HCA), Danny Louange, said that today a patient “with slipped discs can be treated through only a small incision of about 2cm.”

“As compared to before, where a large cut would be made, the procedure does not damage the muscles under the skin, as they can be separated until we reach the spine. Once at the spine, the equipment is placed and the exposure is adequate to perform the slipped disc surgery,” said Louange.

He added that together with other equipment, surgeons “can access and remove the disc, through the device, and upon removing the device, the muscles go back together and the small incision is sewn.”

“This means that patients can be up and mobile on the very same day, and can be discharged fairly quickly, possibly the next day,” concluded Louange.

The Minister for Health, Jean-Paul Adam, said that despite challenges being faced by the island nation’s public health sector, the minimally invasive surgeries are another milestone by the Seychelles Hospital.