The director of the Obstetric- Gynecological Clinic of the General Hospital of Corfu, the Obstetrician-Gynecologist Mr. Marios Kavvadias, talks to Irene Vlachou.
How do you rate the operation of the New Hospital of Corfu? Are there any shortages in the Obstetric – Gynecological Clinic that you direct?
We have long awaited the completion and operation of the new hospital both as Corfiots and professional doctors. I believe that the move from the old to the new building was done well. Now we work under better conditions and the patients are undoubtedly in a much better environment. Of course, there are many problems in the Obstetric-Gynecological clinic, mainly due to nursing staff shortages, as well as shortages in medicines and other supplies. However, we are trying to tackle all these problems and offer the best service possible.
Have you had any incidents where you have had to send away patients from Corfu to other hospitals on the mainland something that used to happen in the old hospital?
Difficult incidents can be treated here, but there are many other factors that force us to send certain patients away from Corfu. For example, the lack of a neonatologist is a very serious problem for us. If we had a neonatologist in the hospital, we would send very few cases away from Corfu. I am not talking about a Newborn Intensive Care Unit because I know that the island’s current population means that the hospital cannot meet the criteria necessary for such a Unit. However, I petition for the hiring of a neonatologist to cover the cases that require simple observation which also happen to be the most common.
I would also like to be able to offer complete and systematic treatment of neoplastic diseases and I am aware that this is also very difficult. However, I would like to be able to offer better treatment to these patients. We definitely need a pathologist for frozen section biopsies which are a crucial intraoperative consultation examination that determine the progress of the operation and by extension is crucial for the success of the operation and the patient’s welfare.
I would like to point out that ten years ago, this specialization existed in the Hospital of Corfu. Since then and despite mounting pressure from our side, there has been no response.
I know that Corfiots demand the creation of an oncological clinic with specialized staff. This is my wish as well and I hope that one day it will come to be. I would like to say, however, that the impression that the Hospital of Corfu sends away many cases is false. Only a hospital has the right to send patients to other hospitals. This means that all out-of-hospital cases have to be processed through the hospital and therefore it is recorded as if they were are our own patients, thus falsely inflating the numbers.
In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of women who undergo caesarian sections. There is talk of a caesarian section industry in Greece. Is this a trend in the Hospital of Corfu too?
It is a fact that in recent years, the percentage of caesarian section deliveries compared to natural deliveries has been very high. However, there are many factors to consider. Normally, caesarian sections are performed for medical reasons only such as in the case of multiple pregnancies, placenta previa, irregular foetal presentation or the birth of a premature fetus. Another important factor is age. Nowadays, women prefer to give birth at an older age than they used to in the past and this means that the odds of giving birth naturally decrease.
On the other hand, many women prefer to avoid the painful, as they believe, process of natural birth or they cite personal reasons to guarantee a cesarean section which they ask their doctor to perform.
There are of course doctors who choose to perform caesarian sections because it is a procedure that lasts less than a natural birth and it can suit their schedule or they even do it for financial reasons. Of course, not all doctors think like that. I would like to point out another factor; the broad implementation of methods of assisted human reproduction. In these cases, since many previous attempts have ended in disappointment, a pregnancy is very important for the couple so in many cases a caesarian section is the only solution.
Are you for caesarian sections or do you support natural birth deliveries?
If there are no specific medical reasons and if the mother wants it, I am for natural birth deliveries. We should not forget that caesarian sections are surgical operations. I believe that both doctors and mothers should trust nature. In Athens, there has been a recent trend to give birth at home. There are couples that make arrangements with their doctors to have this experience at home.
Can we combine pregnancy and work?
Pregnancy is not a disease but a natural stage in a woman’s life. If there are no problems or complications in the pregnancy and the work environment poses no dangers, then working during a pregnancy is not something inherently bad and can indeed ensure a good delivery. Of course, the prospective mother should not wear herself out.
What is your opinion on stem cell storage? Does the hospital of Corfu have the option of stem cell collection?
The collection and preservation of stem cells is an issue that many parents are now interested in, in order to protect their children’s health from certain serious diseases that may crop up in the future.
Being a father myself, if I had the chance I would have liked this option. Of course, the bloctocysts of omphaloplacental blood are not an appropriate implant for hereditary diseases with genetic causes as stem cells have been proved to carry the disease.
There are many factors though, such as environmental ones, which can cause serious diseases and can be cured with the use of stem cells.
Many parents face a dilemma whether to choose the public or private storage of stem cells and the only thing I can do is explain the difference and then of course the decision is up to them.
In public storage, the receiver of this biological material can be any third person as long as there is tissue compatibility, whereas in private or family storage stem cells are stored for a fee exclusively for the use of the family of the donor. The Hospital of Corfu can harvest blastocysts of omphaloplacental blood after childbirth.
The parents who have decided to undergo this procedure should give the necessary equipment to the obstetrician-gynecologist or to the midwife during childbirth and the biological material will be taken to the stem cell storage clinic that the parents have chosen.
Mr Kavvadias, we would like to thank you for this very fascinating interview.
I would like to thank you too and assure both Corfiots and our visitors that as far as the Obstetric – Gynecological clinic of the Hospital of Corfu is concerned, despite certain shortages, we are ready to meet the increased needs of the tourist season. Have a lovely summer.
C.V. - Marios Kavvadias was born in Corfu in the village of Argyrades and is a graduate of the Medical School of Athens.
He specialized in Obstetrics and Gynecology in Western Germany. Since 1986, he has worked as a hospital doctor of the International Health System of Greece in the University Obstetric Gynecological Clinic of Patras, in the Health Centre of Naxos of Cyclades, in the hospital of Siros of Cyclades and since 1996 he has been working in the Hospital of Corfu.
He did his retraining in the University Obstetric-Gynecological Clinic of Kiel in Germany, Vienna in Austria and Bari in Italy. In addition, he continued his retraining in the University General Hospital “Helena Venizelou” in Athens and in the University Obstetric-Gynecological Clinic of Alexandroupoli.
He is now employed in the Obstetric-Gynecological Clinic of the Hospital of Corfu.
During the first years of his service in the General Hospital of Corfu, he focused on childbirth treatment with prostaglandins and foeto-maternal (cervical slide echo- 2nd degree echo) aiming at the decrease of caesarian sections performed applying his experience from his retraining in Greece and abroad. After relevant training in Greek and medical centres abroad, he worked actively on organoscopy such as laparoscopy (the first implementations of this invasive procedure have already taken place in cooperation with the Surgery Clinic) and hysteroscopy (diagnostics are already a routine procedure that leads to swifter operations).
Finally, in an attempt to increase earlier diagnoses of cervical cancer, he performs colposcopies, in which he has been trained in workshops and seminars in Greece and abroad.
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