The Kenya Association Of Urological Surgeons (KAUS) held its first ever monthly meeting and symposium on 30th August 2014 at the Sarova Whitesands Hotel.

KAUS is the umbrella body which brings together all the surgeons who have specialized in the field of urology. The delegates came from all parts of the country.

Kenya currently has only 32 trained urologists with 20 of them based in Nairobi. A lot of interesting topics were discussed during the one day symposium.

KAUS chairman, Dr. Saeed Samnakay led the participants through the business of the day, following which interesting case presentations were made and deliberated upon. There was also a presentation on the “Urology Institute” which was given by Prof Peter Mungai.

The Urology Institute is a collaboration between the Government, University of Nairobi and Kenyatta National Hospital with stake-holding of KAUS, to start a centre for training urologists in Kenya. Dr Sundeep Chavda (KAUS Mombasa Co-ordinator) welcomed all the participants to the beautiful City of Mombasa and hoped that this would be an annual event. He also thanked all the participants and the sponsors for making this event a great success.

Fiber optics put into good use here as Access Kenya facilitated a Video Conferencing Surgery, a first in Aga Khan Hospital earlier today. The event was the Pan African Urological Conference at Crowne Plaza.

The video conference was crystal clear with HD images from the Aga Khan University Hospital’s theaters and was streamed through Access Kenya ‘s fiber network to the conference of surgery professionals.

The inaugural VSC session was powered by the Access Kenya redundant fiber network at speeds of 15Mbps on which the company has strived to ensure reliability. The session, which was organized by: Asterisk Ltd – a tertiary medical technology company; Sight & Sound – a technology equipment supplier – was aimed at showcasing the use of technology in health and medical services in what is widely described as e-health. Aga Khan and Crowne Plaza are both connected to Access Kenya’s fiber network.

In his remarks, Dr Saeed Samnakay, who is the local chair of the organizing committee for the Uro-Suregon Conference, lauded the initiative as noble and urged scientists and medical doctors to adopt new and working technologies to their respective duties.
“Technology has not only simplified our lives but also presented us with a unique chance to share knowledge and grow each other’s individual and collective capacity in our service to humanity,” Dr. Samnakay said.

This milestone comes in the wake of increased adoption of technology to aid key sectors of the economy with e-learning and e-commerce already taking centre stage in Kenya. AccessKenya, which pioneered the ICT industry in Kenya, has already implemented e-learning initiatives in various areas of the country through its Corporate Social Responsibility program. Pundits believe that technology will spur Africa’s economic growth and effectively fight poverty as well as improve the quality of service.

The three – day Pan African Urological Surgeons’ Association (PAUSA) Conference, at which other live sessions will be streamed from South Africa, has brought together Uro-surgeons from all over Africa to discuss varied aspects of Urology.