DATO’ Seri Idris Jusoh, was all smiles when he attended the launch of the state of the art treatment facility – the Centre for Image Guided and Minimally Invasive Theraphy (CIGMIT) at the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) recently.
The Minister of Higher Education was highly impressed with the modern facilities offered by CIGMIT, one of two international treatment centres (after Singapore) featuring two integrated intraoperative MRI and CT scanners and a radiosurgery suite.
“These operating theatres are unique, where patients' safety, cost effectiveness and efficiency form the core of its design philosophy.
“The two - room solution allows the scanners to be available for diagnostic imaging while operations are going on in the other room. When an intraoperative scan is needed, either for navigation or to assess resection margin, the CT scan can be brought into the operating room. As for the intraoperative MRI, although it requires a particular transport table, the patient can be to moved easily from the operating room as the MRI is located in the adjacent MRI suite.
“In other words, CIGMIT helps in saving valuable lives. The centre also provides medical students with the necessary exposure needed in honing their skills, performing real life procedures in the operating theatre.
“This is a good example of the public-private partnership initiative and I can’t praise UM highly enough for their foresight and vision in making this a reality,” he added.
The idea for setting up the Centre for Image Guided and Minimally Invasive Therapy was first mooted in order that doctors who have acquired higher surgical skills during overseas training would have access to an operating theatre with state of the art equipment that is equivalent to what they have been exposed in their training. As a result of the initiative taken by the Malaysian government to form Public-Private Partnerships, the idea for CIGMIT was finally realised.
CIGMIT provides a symbiotic relationship between various surgical divisions such as radiology and oncology in treating tumors. An integrated network of scanners and image guided surgical equipment facilitates the workflow from the diagnosis, surgical option and through to the follow-up care. Intraoperative scans allow the surgeons to perform more complicated surgeries, reduce the operating time, and increase safety margin for the patients. While CIGMIT provides better care for patients, at the same time it also offers state of the art training facilities to for the undergraduate and postgraduate students.
By Harris Rajahdin
