Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Honorary Secretary Judy Evans today expressed desire to accept surgeons from India for training and teaching programmes in the UK and said that there is a lot to learn in India looking at the volume of work in medical science being done here.

The first visit of any member from the prestigious surgical Royal Colleges of UK to the North East region, Evans told reporters that the 500-year old medical institution has for surgeons one-year and two-year placement schemes, besides short-term courses where surgeons from India can enroll after the General Medical Council in UK registers them. Evans, who is a globally renowned plastic surgeon visiting, is in Guwahati to attend a seminar-cum-interactive session on 'Training of Surgeons Indo British collaboration' organised by Swagat Academy of Medical Sciences.

Asked about the cost of the training programmes, she said the salary paid in the placement was enough to take care of the period of stay in the UK. Stating that the College has moved with the times, she said earlier it was involved in conducting exams only but in the past 10 years it has been engaging in making good surgeons in everyday life setting standards, structure and training to surgeons to make patient safety their priority.

Evans also inaugurated the first dedicated eye, nose, throat (ENT) and Head & Neck surgery centre at the Swagat premises that would be operational from January next year. Dean of the Swagat Academy Subhash Khanna said the team of doctors would be available round-the-clock. Besides providing services for hearing impaired and affordable treatment, the centre will also have a dedicated Vertigo clinic, an allergy clinic with facility of skin prick allergy tests and immunotherapy treatment.