Dubai-based Latifa Hospital conducted over 3,500 paediatric surgeries in 2015, said a top health official.

Dr Ghadir Jaber, senior specialist paediatric surgeon at the hospital, said that Latifa Hospital receives one of the highest referrals for paediatric surgery not only from Dubai but also from the Northern Emirates.

“Last year, we conducted 3972 paediatric operations, of which 1748 were major operations. The top reasons for these operations were congenital malformation, gastrointestinal cases, urological cases, tumours and burns. Latifa Hospital offers 24-hour paediatric surgery services because we receive a high number of emergency cases.  In 2015, we received 2282 emergency cases,” she revealed.

Jaber, who is the only woman Emirati surgeon in the field of paediatric surgery in the UAE, said that the hospital performs operations on a daily basis, has four clinics per day including a specialised burn clinic and spina-pifida clinic. The hospital performs surgeries for new-borns including neonates and for children up to 13 years.

The hospital also conducts a high number of surgeries to correct congenital abnormalities, many of them are detected during the pregnancy stage and cases in which the new-born needs immediate surgical information are referred to Latifa Hospital, so that the mother delivers her baby at Latifa Hospital. “In some cases, it is important to stabilize the baby, in other cases we need to perform the surgery within 24 or 48 hours,” she stated.

An example of a congenital anomaly she treats is diaphragmatic hernia, which occurs while the baby is developing in the womb. Because the diaphragm is not fully developed, abdominal organs, such as the stomach, small intestine, spleen and part of the liver may take up part of the chest cavity. “It’s a multidisciplinary team that treats such patients and an anaesthesiologist and neonatologist plays a vital role,” she said.

Dr Sherif Mahmoud, senior anaesthesiologist at Latifa Hospital said that anaesthesia for paediatric cases is a speciality and much precision and care is needed to ensure the baby does not experience pain. “There a certain processes to follow before the operation and our team ensures parents are aware of all the steps to take before surgery.”

Dr Moza Al Hattawi, general surgeon at Dubai Hospital, said: “Prior to any surgery steps are taken to ensure the patient is fit for surgery. We need to ensure patient is fever-free, we have to ensure the patient has not had any oral feed for a certain number of hours and we also need to check several tests and medical and surgical history to ensure it is safe for the patient to undergo surgery.”

Al Hattawi added that the hospital provides complete information to parents on pre and post-surgery care and that all DHA hospitals pay special attention to perform surgeries in the most minimally invasive method possible unless the case requires open surgery.  “This is a global trend that has several benefits for patients and our hospitals are very much abreast with the latest advances in these kind of surgeries.” - TradeArabia News Service