KEM to set up wet bioskills lab for improved learning on fresh cadavers

MUMBAI: Mumbai’s largest civic-run public hospital, KEM, is developing a bioskills laboratory for medical students, mid-career doctors, consultants, paramedics and nursing staff to learn/ upgrade their skills

MUMBAI: Mumbai’s largest civic-run public hospital, KEM, is developing a bioskills laboratory for medical students, mid-career doctors, consultants, paramedics and nursing staff to learn/ upgrade their skills. Doctors will get first-hand experience of various surgical procedures such as endoscopies and laparoscopies, ophthalmologic, orthopaedic, renal and gynaecological surgeries, knee replacements and even robotic surgeries on cadavers.

The bioskills lab is part of the virtual autopsy centre, the first in the state, that is being set up in the hospital. Bioskills labs are of two kinds—dry and wet. In dry laboratories, learning is centred around artificial models while training in wet labs takes place on cadavers. KEM Hospital will develop a wet lab that will offer students the facility to learn techniques on fresh frozen cadavers over the traditional (embalmed) frozen cadavers.

“Since traditional frozen cadavers tend to be dark and hard with the contour not maintained, the surgical and learning experience may not necessarily match with the real learning experience,” said Dr Harish Pathak, dean of KEM Hospital, who also doubles as the head of the forensic science department. The slated KEM workshop is expected to meet this gap.

The lab is an off-shoot of the redevelopment and upgradation of KEM’s post-mortem centre. The current post-mortem facility is to be redeveloped into a five-storey prefabricated building that will be spread over 20,000 sq ft. Tenders have been floated, and the ₹17-crore facility is scheduled to come up in the next 11 months.

At present, students do have a system of learning on cadavers but there is no dedicated facility for this, and there are times when they are taught in the dissection section. The new facility will be well-equipped and dedicated to the purpose of training.

The bioskills laboratory may be set up in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, although KEM Hospital has yet to finalise the quantum and manner of private partnership. “At this time when the BMC is looking to raise green bonds in the market, this kind of PPP model will prove to be a sustainable model for this department,” said Dr Pathak. “The private sector could be allowed to recommend doctors for such training here.”

Currently, many private-sector hospitals send their doctors for mid-career training to foreign countries like Singapore, Thailand or even Dubai. “If doctors are going abroad to such courses, then we should be able to offer such courses at cheaper costs in India,” he said.

The new building will have a facility to store about 40 cadavers at any given time. Annually, Mumbai gets about 1,000 cadavers, sourced from unclaimed bodies. They are either used for studies or are either buried or cremated.

Talking of the virtual autopsy lab, Dr Pathak said that the virtual autopsy would give doctors the opportunity to “save up evidence either for further studies or references”. “The 3D scans of bodies will serve as a good source of research data for our training programs,” he said.