In rural India, 40% of surgical patients have to borrow money or sell their assets to have treatment, and three fourths of them are impoverished by it [1]. The advantages, such as less pain, quick recovery, short hospital stay and less blood loss make minimally invasive surgeries like laparoscopic surgeries the ideal solution for patients in remote rural areas. However, the steep learning curves and prohibitive costs make these minimally invasive surgeries out of reach for many rural surgeons.
Lift laparoscopic surgeries have overcome some of the problems faced by rural surgeons. The equipment involved is sturdy and easy to maintain, and familiar open surgical instruments can be used for surgery. However, there are adventurous rural surgeons who still offer traditional minimally invasive surgeries in rural areas, and they might face some of the problems that we did. We describe our solutions.
THE PROBLEM WITH ANESTHESIA
Most of India’s remote and rural hospitals have problems with general anesthesia and have to use regional anesthesia as much as possible instead, which is much less expensive. In addition to costs, the expertise and safety are other important factors, and therefore many of our rural hospitals still use agents like ether, with a high margin of safety, for anesthesia.
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