There’s something about a conference that fosters growth. Whether it’s just meeting and mingling with likeminded people or listening to and learning from experts, a conference is a place of growth and opportunity.
Like almost all other aspects of our lives, Covid-19 has disrupted these conferences. For the most part, this is an easy part of our lives to take online. The webinar has become a very popular method of creating a forum, and with it being online, it can also be kept online permanently for people to view over time.
The College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka (CSSL) has made the move to hold their distinguished annual conference, the Sri Lanka Surgical Congress (SLSC), virtually this year from 4-6 November 2020. Normally held each August, the SLSC 2020 was initially postponed from August to take place in November in hopes that the pandemic would not have an impact on the proceedings. Unfortunately, the second wave of infections that hit Sri Lanka in early October shows no signs of receding at the moment, and the CSSL decided to hold this year’s SLSC virtually as opposed to postponing it further.
The SLSC is the annual academic sessions of the CSSL and an international conference attracting surgeons and specialists from the world over.
The 49th Sri Lanka Surgical Congress
The Sunday Morning Brunch sat down with CSSL President Dr. Jayaindra Fernando to gain more insights into this year’s SLSC.
“Normally, the SLSC is a forum for members to present new research and network with other surgeons, both local and international. We were initially meant to have the SLSC at Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo, but given the situation, this is no longer possible, which is why we have taken it online,” Dr. Fernando shared. “The first day of the SLSC 2020 will be dedicated to research presentations, and the other two days will be a combination of lectures and a symposium with presentations from speakers.”
This year’s SLSC will see 36 oral presentations of new research including eight South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) presenters and 98 research poster presentations. Commenting on research applications for the SLSC 2020, Dr. Fernando shared that over 240 submissions were received this year. “This is a very high volume of applications and is very encouraging to see. This means that our members are very keen on professional and academic development,” he added.
The SLSC 2020 will feature speakers from both Sri Lanka and overseas coming together to discuss issues, advancements, and trends in surgery and surgical practice. “Of the speakers joining, two-thirds are from overseas, and many are top leaders and residents of other surgical organisations,” Dr. Fernando emphasised.
The SLSC is co-hosted by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) and the SAARC Surgical Care Society, two organisations with whom the CSSL had long-standing relationships.
“Generally, teams from both our co-hosts join us at the SLSC and it is something of a family reunion because we have been friends for a long time,” Dr Fernando shared, adding: “This year, both organisations will join us in co-hosting the SLSC virtually.”
The role of the CSSL
Celebrating their golden jubilee in 2021, the CSSL initially started as an association before being incorporated into a non-profit company. Its main objective is to foster the development of surgeons in practice as well as surgical trainees.
“We do training and development programmes all over the country. We also provide opportunities for Sri Lankan surgeons of all subspecialities to network and interact with one another on a national level through the CSSL itself, as well as at the provincial level through the CSSL’s separate chapters in each province, giving surgeons a framework within which they can look at issues that affect them at a localised provincial level,” Dr. Fernando said, speaking on the CSSL and the benefits offered to members.
The CSSL hosts international training workshops on a regular basis. Some of the programmes are Advanced Trauma Life Support, National Trauma Management Course, Basic Skills in Laparoscopic Surgery workshops, and Train the Trainer sessions for all surgeons involved in training young surgical trainees.
On a national level, the CSSL was instrumental in obtaining recognition of the Sri Lankan MD (Surgery) postgraduate degree with the General Medical Council of the UK. The CSSL is also an examination centre and co-ordinator for the membership examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons of London and RCSEd, and contributes to the Board of Study in Surgery and Board of Management at the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine at the University of Colombo.
Responding to Covid-19 as a national body
The CSSL took upon itself to develop and disseminate guidelines with regard to surgical practice in these unprecedented times of the Covid-19 pandemic. It also embraced new technology to facilitate its academic and training programme as well as meetings and administrative functions while adhering to the strictest precautions of social distancing.
Dr. Fernando shared that the CSSL had to respond very quickly to Covid-19, initially telling members to be safe by performing only emergency surgery. “We first guided members by asking them to refrain from any non-emergency surgery, but then we realised it was imperative for surgeons to perform important yet non-emergency surgery to prevent the escalation of diseases and unnecessary deaths.”
With this strategy in mind, the CCSL developed a guideline and checklist to help surgeons decide when to perform surgery, which was introduced in April 2020. The guidelines and checklist were incorporated in directives issued by the Ministry of Health as part of their own response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The onset of the pandemic saw a reduction in surgeries performed. We then realised that we would contribute to deaths by not performing and soon after came back to near-full capacity. Surgeons all over the country worked very hard and did so at constant risk to themselves and their team members. It was very courageous of them to work like that,” Dr Fernando noted.
Moving forward
With this year’s SLSC taking place virtually, the question arises: Is moving online a long-term alternative, particularly given we have globally become so much more comfortable with technology in recent months?
“Going virtual in the long term is up to the future organisers of the SLSC. Going virtual is a positive in that it opens the SLSC up to a wider audience. Physically, it’s limited to an audience of about 500 people, but virtually, there is the capacity for many more people to be part of the SLSC. A negative is that lack of human interaction.
“One of the key things about international conferences is the chance to meet with other doctors and international experts. That’s not to say this isn’t possible virtually. Every conference has some virtual element where global leaders join in online. But personally, I don’t see it as a permanent trend or solution,” he further shared.
The SLSC 2020 is set to take place on a special version of the video conferencing platform Zoom that can handle larger conferences. Coming together to help make this conference come together online is SLSC 2020’s event partner Asia Tours and Events along with the IT partner Bling Productions.
The Sri Lanka Surgical Congress 2020 will take from 4-6 November 2020. For more information and to register, please visit www.slsc2020.surgeons.lk/en/.
