Namchi Hospital doctors remove 250gm stone from patient

NAMCHI, 12 June [IPR]: Doctors at the District Government Hospital of Namchi, South Sikkim successfully removed a large stone from the bladder of a male patient in a procedure called Cystolithotomy.
Cystolithotomy is a type of surgery for Bladder Stones or Calculus (Removal) which is an abnormal concretion in the body, usually formed of mineral salts and most commonly found in the gallbladder, kidney, or urinary bladder.
Informing about this surgery, Dr Roshan Tamang who is the Consultant in the General Surgery Department at Government Hospital Namchi told IPR that a 24 year old male patient hailing from Zoom, West Sikkim had come to him with the complaint of acute back pain and urine problem few months back. After routine tests, he was diagnosed with the disease Vesical (Urinary Bladder) Calculi.
The patient’s x-ray showed a stone located in his bladder and the size of the stone found in this patient after the surgery was 8cm X 6cm and weighed 250gm. Dr Tamang claimed that this was the first time that a bladder calculi of a large size was found in a patient and this type of finding (disease) was rare among the young patients he stated.
Cystolithotomy surgery was performed in the this patient on 09 June 2014 in the Namchi Government Hospital and was executed by a medical team headed by Chief Consultant Dr SM Pradhan, supported by Dr Roshan Tamang and Dr Sanjay Rai with Staff Nurse Rosy Rai and Anesthetic Dr Sonam Diki Bhutia.
He added that this is the third case where Cystolithotomy surgery was performed and out of these three cases, stone of this large size was found in this recent surgery.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Namchi Government Hospital, Dr Bimal Rai, in his statement about this recent Cystolithotomy case said that this was a rare case (patient with large stone) which had come to their notice and after coming across this case he observed that there may be similar cases in the rural areas.
Many times people from rural areas hesitate to relay their ailments and their ignorance result in serious medical cases where the patient has to go through advanced surgeries he stated. “We would like to create maximum awareness amongst the rural people particularly who are economically backward about these types of free of cost medical services available to them”, he added.
Not only this surgery but many other advanced surgeries are performed free of cost for the local patients (Sikkimese citizens) in the State Government Hospitals and only in rare cases the patient has to purchase some drugs (medicines) which are unavailable in the hospital.
Giving a comparative detail, Dr Bimal informed that the minimum cost for this type of surgery if done outside Sikkim would come to around Rs 50, 000 excluding other expenses.
“I would like the local people to take benefit of the medical facilities provided by the State Government which at their doorstep and available at zero cost”, underlined the CMO. Lack of awareness regarding the availability of these kind of facilities maybe the reason why local people do not take advantage of these medical benefits and on the other hand it is our constant endeavor to reach out to the local people and help them avail these free medical services especially those from economically backward section so that they can avoid the heavy burden of medical expenses and recover from the disease trouble-free, added Dr Bimal.
In addition, the CMO shared other successful cases of high scale surgeries carried out by the General Surgery Department in the Namchi Government Hospital during the past year.
The male patient, Maniraj Biswakarma, who had undergone the Cystolithotomy surgery, shared that he is relieved and happy after the surgery.
“I was relieved when Dr Roshan Tamang told me that I did not have to go far away from my home to cure my disease and spend lots of money for the surgery; I thank our State Government for making this type of facility available to people like us who are financially weak,” said Maniraj.