Neurosurgeons to common man's rescue

A brain surgery requires full concentration. A head nurse is seen here wiping doctors sweat.

Doctors look at the MRI scan and discuss the best way to plan the brain operation.

Doctors give a final look at the MRI scan before beginning the brain surgery.

Carl Zeiss operating microscopes - each costs between Rs 60 lakh and Rs 1 crore - are used to peer inside the human brain. Video cameras record the surgery as study material for interns.

Removing tumours of the size of a golf ball is quite common.

Brain surgeries are intense affairs; doctors work in shifts in complex surgeries.

Patients are not charged for the use of the operating theatre, anesthetics and the surgeons' fees.

In a neuronavigational surgery, computers help plot the shortest and safest path to the problem area in the brain. An MRI is used along with a neuronavigation suite (which costs almost Rs 1 crore) to do so. Like a doctor explained, it's a bit like charting a spacecraft's path through space but the difference is that, inside the brain, every millimeter counts. Only a handful of Indian hospitals boast of such a suite.

A country of over a billion has only 15,000 neurosurgeons.

KEM treats 1.8 million outpatients each year. It is a hub for complex neurosurgical procedures in the western region of the country.

Every year, nearly 400 children undergo neurosurgical procedures at KEM. Patients are woken up within half an hour of surgery. Most are fit to be sent home in a day. This helps keep costs down.