CHENNAI : The digital video colposcopy training centre and cervical cancer screening programme at the Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital will be inaugurated on Thursday. Two certificate courses — on obstetric anaesthesia and urogynaecology — for doctors and paramedical staff will also be launched, S. Dhanalakshmi, the hospital superintendent, said on Tuesday. Trained personnel will equip government hospitals in the state to enable detection and treatment of cervical cancer.

As the Pap smear, the universal screening technique, was not cost effective, the two new techniques were introduced: visual inspection with acetic acid and visual inspection with lugols iodine methods. Colour changes in the infected parts of the uterus following application of acetic acid and iodine determine treatment modalities. A patient requiring further treatment is advised video colposcopy, a procedure that included biopsy. The new methods have reduced travel for poor women, said Ramani Rajendran, who is trained in colposcopy. The patient's details are fed into the computer for review during subsequent visits.

"The procedure is available at the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the KGH at present. It will be introduced in all medical college hospitals and later in the district hospitals. Select primary health centres will also be given the equipment," the director told media persons. The screening methods are simple enough for a village health nurse to adopt.

Under the `varumun kappom' (preventive healthcare) scheme, the hospital had screened 17,092 women of which 1,000 were identified for further evaluation. In Chennai the incidence of cervical cancer is 43 per lakh population.

The hospital will conduct a six month-course certificate course for MBBS doctors to provide trained anaesthetists for emergencies in district and primary health care centres. Unlike last year when nine women died, in the past three months no woman died during childbirth, said Dr. Ramani. The Urogynaecology department will offer certificate and training courses, to teach the recent advances in the field of reconstructive pelvic surgeries.

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