The Beautiful Work of Robotic Surgery
My name is Tinatin Kakchekeeva, and I’m from the National Hospital of the Kyrgyz Republic.
The National Hospital is the country’s central hospital run by the Ministry of Public Health. It is also a largest one in my country with the 350 beds just in the Department of General Surgery. It is just like the SNUH in the Kyrgyz Republic. And I’m a fellow in the Thyroid and Endocrine Surgery Department.
For me, visiting Korea is like dreams come true. I’ve read many papers written by professionals in the SNUH on international journals or online. This makes me feel that it is a medical center as well as an educational institution that has history and academic authenticity. And I got to know the three-month international training program of the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KHIDI) and took the chance. As I would imagine, the SNUH is great and has the capacity in terms of technology and medical staff.
Beautiful Work by BABA Robotic Surgery
I visit each of the divisions in the general surgery department every two weeks. So far I went to the Liver Transplant, HBP Surgery, Thoracic Surgery and Thyroid and Endocrine Surgery. I’m currently staying at the Gastrointestinal Surgery. I’ve seen liver donor transplant surgery in the Liver Donor Transplant, pylorus preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy (PPPD) in the HBP Surgery, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery in the Thoracic Surgery, and last but not least laparoscopic surgery for stomach cancer in the Gastrointestinal Surgery. All of the surgeries in each division were new and impressive.
Moreover, I’m specialized in the thyroid gland, the surgeries by Professors Yeo-gyu Yoon and Gyu-on Lee were particularly impressive.
Professor Yoon develops the Bilateral Axillo-Breast Approach (BABA) robotic surgery and the BABA endoscopic surgery. The both surgeries achieve a maximized level of treatment and patient’s satisfaction so I’ve wanted to see so badly. Professors Yoon and Lee showed me the tools and explained them in details. The sophisticated robot-assisted surgery was absolutely beautiful and I saw my future in it.
It would have been great if I was allowed to do more than see these awesome procedures. I felt like my hands were missing being in the operation room. Also, the two-week period is not enough to learn everything here. My course is half way through now and I already feel I’m missing here. If possible, I want to receive another round of training in my specialty.
The Best Doctors/Educators
I’ve met many professors here, and thanks to their kindness, I’m learning a lot. I think they are among the best doctors and educators at the same time. They were specific in the operating rooms and invited me to their office to share ongoing research projects with me. I want to thank everyone I’ve met here, including Professors Gyung-suk Seo, Gwang-ung Lee, Nam-jun Lee, Sun-hoi Kim, Jin-young Jeong, Young-tai Kim, Yeo-gyu Yoon, Gyu-on Lee, Jun-young Choi, Han-gwang Yang Min-jeong Kim MD in the Surgery Department.
The Kyrgyz Republic established its relations only with Russia in the past. But now, it has expanded to include the US and Europe, and is searching for new partners in Northeast Asia, which essentially Korea, China and Japan. The Korean culture, such as taekwondo and kimchi, is already popular in my country. Also I see a huge potential in the Korean medical society. Its performance is never running behind those of the medically advanced countries. Rather, I was very surprised to see its world-leading records. I’m looking forward to seeing the success of the SNUH medical professionals and techniques in my home country.
Thank you.