• Home

Patient chats with doctor during heart surgery

Sixty-seven-year-old retired Pakistani banker Shaikh Ghulam Mustafa was encouraged to undergo coronary artery bypass surgery after he read a report published in Khaleej Times on October 10 about the success of a similar surgery carried out by doctors at New Medical Centre (NMC) on a Bangladeshi patient.

Fifth surgery

The family members also egged him on. “This is my fifth surgery for different ailments,” said Mustafa, who was operated upon by Dr Girish Chandra Varma of the NMC on Tuesday.

“Doctors had ruled out surgery earlier saying it was better that I stay on medication. I too was afraid because I had undergone several surgeries earlier,” he said.

“When I read the success of the surgery on the Bangladeshi patient and the way it was conducted, I decided to go ahead,” said Mustafa who was discharged from hospital yesterday.

First attack in 2000

Says Asma Shaikh, the elder daughter of Mustafa, “We were very worried about our father because he had his first heart attack in 2000. Last year, he had a bout of angina again and we rushed him to Dubai Hospital where the doctors put him on high alert. They advised surgery which he avoided.”

Wife surprised

She said her mother was surprised to see him walking out of his room the next day after surgery. “My mother was sitting in the waiting room when she saw the doctor walk in with my father who had this major surgery done just a day earlier,” said Asma.

Dr Varma said the case was similar to that of the Bangladeshi patient who underwent surgery recently.

The main challenge in this type of surgery during which the patient can see and talk is the dose of anaesthesia to be administered.

“Once we got that right, the surgery was performed in two-and-a-half hours. The patient was awake and chatting with the doctors during the time,” he said.

No need to go abroad

Dr Varma said this once again shows that such surgeries can be performed in the UAE and there is no need for patients to travel abroad.

• UAE