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LRH milestone of 100th scoliosis correction
All smiles: Jeluni Samoshi. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
It’s a century – not wielding the willow on the cricket pitch but the scalpel at the seventh-floor Operating Theatre (OT) of the premier Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH) for Children in Colombo, for scoliosis correction.
Down below in Ward 14B Jeluni Samoshi (14) and her mother Ayomi Devika are all smiles as they prepare to go back home to Veediyawatte in Udugampola.
Jeluni was the flag-bearer of the 100th paediatric scoliosis operation – correction of the curvature of the spine – performed by Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Nirmal Marasinghe on January 9.
In the bed across from Jeluni is Lasandi Aloka (18), a victim of cerebral palsy, from Kalubowila who was the 98th to undergo scoliosis surgery on January 2. This is proof of equitable care and treatment whether the child is able or has special needs.
It is Dr. Marasinghe, in his scrubs on a Friday, who explains why the 100th scoliosis operation is a milestone. With LRH being the only dedicated paediatric spine unit for the whole of the country, the first scoliosis surgery had been done in August 2020.
He looks back over the last 3½ years and how he had only two OT lists a month that too “borrowed” from generous senior colleagues Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Sunil Wijayasinghe and Consultant Plastic Surgeon Dr. Romesh Gunasekera.
With the opening of the new seventh-floor OT dedicated to orthopaedics and neurosurgery on October 1, 2021, Dr. Marasinghe had been allotted two theatre lists per week, allowing him to perform four scoliosis corrections per month and ratchet up the numbers to five or six surgeries per month in the last six months.
“We were able to achieve much in a short space of time as all the equipment is in place and somehow any shortages for this complex surgery are met by tremendous effort by different staff members,” he says, paying tribute to all team members and those within the LRH who work without considering the gruelling hours.
Lasandi Aloka and her mother Uresha Fonseka
Dr. Marasinghe recalls how when the advertisement to recruit a specialist for the LRH’s Spine Unit was out, with foresight Dr. Sunil Wijayasinghe had insisted, with many doubting this wisdom, that spine surgeries should be separate from other orthopaedic surgeries.
“Many doubted this pathway and when we requested a neuro-monitoring system the Health Ministry’s Biomedical Engineering Unit refused point blank to sign off on the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) approval. The approval came with only four signatures,” he says.
However, the LRH persisted and support came from different quarters along the way – the Director and the Pharmacist of the Medical Supplies Division (MSD) and private donors including Dr. Marasinghe’s Group of 98 school mates at D.S. Senanayake College who campaigned on Facebook; companies which undertook to help the Spine Unit as their corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects; and NGOs.
He says that even though Sri Lanka has been performing scoliosis corrections for over two decades, many parents are still unaware that the country has the expertise and facilities. They seek such corrections for their children at great cost abroad.
The 100th scoliosis correction: X-rays before and after
“Sri Lanka’s scoliosis correction is on par with any other country in all aspects such as safety, expertise-wise and facilities-wise including the instruments,” assures Dr. Marasinghe, looking back at his career pathway when he did not know anything about the spine initially, but yearned to get to know.
He underwent six months of spine work as the first Registrar under Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Vasantha Perera and was “hooked”. There was no turning back and while doing such work during his training in the United Kingdom, he realized the acute need for scoliosis corrections back home.
He turns his attention to the reality of scoliosis – there is much stigma and as the spinal deformity becomes more and more noticeable, children especially girls stop going out of their homes and even dropout of school, becoming very reclusive. The psychosocial impact during adolescence is palpable, burdening not only the affected child but also the parents.
The secret behind the success of providing succour to scoliosis patients at the LRH is simple, according to Dr. Marasinghe. Placing laurels on all teams including the anaesthetists, radiologists, junior doctors, other sub-specialties, ICU ward staff, nurses, technicians, pharmacists and support staff, under the guidance and unstinting support of Director Dr. G. Wijesuriya, he says: LRH is “very unique”.
It works as “one family” where trade union action is not part of the work ethic. It is a “labour of love” for Sri Lanka’s children, he adds, while the children’s mothers call
Dr. Marasinghe and his team “devivaru” (gods).
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