He has 25 years of experience as a surgeon and has conducted various delicate and complicated surgeries. Piotr Stepinski, has four medical specialisations namely general surgery, vascular surgery, transplant surgery and cardiac surgery. News on Sunday had the opportunity to meet with the Polish surgeon during his brief stay in Mauritius.
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“Working in surgery, it is like being a samourai. You are alone with you scalp in your hand and you have to take crucial decisions.” This is how the reputed Polish surgeon Piotr Stepinski describes his job. With 25 years of experience in the medical field, Piotr does not hide that surgery is a difficult discipline where you have to be motivated, have to persevere and have to have self-control. “I am the kind of doctor who is taking high risk operations on my neck and I have lots of responsibilities in this job. But at the end, I work towards the safe end of the operations,” he declares.
“ It is not the number of surgeries which you have performed that count but the number of lives you’ve saved. So from the beginning you have to be properly qualified in order to perform successful operations."
In Mauritius for the second time, Piotr said that he loves the country and enjoys the climate and the ocean a lot. “Mauritius is a very nice place to be, especially as it is surrounded by the sea and it is always sunny. I feel relaxed here.” In July 2011, Piotr came to Mauritius for a cardiovascular contract. During his 15 day work stay, the surgeon had performed over 20 delicate surgeries on Mauritian patients at the Cardiac centre of the SSR National Hospital. “I was informed by my director in Poland that there was some work in Mauritius. It was an opportunity for me to put my experience and know-how at the service of Mauritian patients as well as the medical team in Mauritius,” he explains.
During his visit, Piotr confides that he had the opportunity to meet the former Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth as well as the Minister of Health Anwar Husnoo. “It was a true privilege to meet once again Sir Anerood Juganuath. I had the chance to meet him in 2011 when he was the President of the Republic. He is a great person.” Regarding his meeting with the Minister of Health, Piotr shares that they discussed about the medical situation, namely the medical services and difficulties in Mauritius.
Biography
Following his graduation from the Medical Academy in Wroclaw, Poland, in 1992, Piotr started his career and has since then qualified in four medical specialisations. From 1999 to 2003, working for the Department of Vascular, General and Transplant Surgery Medical Academy, he managed vascular and transplant duties for Lower Silesian Macro Region as well as providing teaching program for students and GP doctors. It is in 2004 that Piotr started his specialisation for cardiac surgery in the 4th Army Research and Teaching Hospital in Worclaw, Poland.
He pursued his specialisation as a senior registrar in Medinet Centre for Heart Diseases and finally obtained his qualification in cardiac surgery and consultant position in 2008. From 2010 to 2015, Piotr Stepinski held the Head position and directed the Medinet branch (Medinet Heart Center Ltd.) in Nowa Sol. Since October 2016, the surgeon is working as senior consultant at the Medical University of LODZ, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery Department.
Currently working as senior consultant at the Medical University of LODZ, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery Department, Piotr explains that he is appreciated in his country and on the market as one of the surgeons performing combined procedures. “Currently, doctors, especially in European countries, have to prove their worth and excellence in the field. The percentage of mortality can be the end of their career. It is not the number of surgeries which you have performed that count but the number of lives you’ve saved. So from the beginning you have to be properly qualified in order to perform successful operations,” he explains. Piotr utters that quality excellence is one of the ethics of surgeries.
Stating that he is very happy with his present position as university doctor and lecturer, Piotr explains that he is all set to put his experience and skills at the service of all those who need it. “While I was working in the Silesian Macro Region in 1999, I handled a lot of emergency cases where I performed dissections among aortic dissections and others. Presently I am willing to help not only as a surgeon but as a university lecturer to try to improve the techniques and skills.” Piotr is also performing combined procedures and emergency cardio vascular operations when necessary.
Prevention better than cure
He trusts that there is room for improvement on various levels in Mauritius. He gives the example of his city Wroclaw (the capital city of Lower Silesian Macro Region) where there are 700,000 and three cardiac surgery centres. “In such a place, with a population nearly the same as Mauritius, we are performing 2,000 surgery cases each year.”
He trusts that a healthy life style should start as from childhood. “For example in Poland, we have implemented a special program where we have removed all types of unhealthy foods from the schools like soft drinks, chips, fried foods, among others. In addition you have physical activities. This is the beginning to decrease the number of overweight children.” He explains that another major problem is that children no longer engage in physical activities like before, as they are constantly on their electronic devices. “This is a kind of addiction for young brains. But if you have control over the sugar level in schools, you implement physical exercises, you will be able to control obesity since childhood. You can certainly expect that such program will reduce the number of hospitalisation in cardio vascular disease.”
Piotr underlines that parents also have a big role to play. “They should control their children namely their physical activities, their diets, if they are eating on time, etc.” The surgeon says that Mauritians have the chance to live in a country where local fresh vegetable and fruits are available at affordable prices. “I would advise the Mauritians to enjoy what they have. You are also surrounded by the ocean where plenty of seafood is available. Seafood is good for health. This healthy diet should be promoted on TV and done by teachers in schools.” He argues that the government does not have to spend a lot of money to sensitise people, promote a healthy society and manage the number of obesity and death due to cardio vascular disease and diabetes.
Piotr says that he is willing to move and work in Mauritius if the opportunity rises. “I was asked about what if I got a job here and I said it was ok for me. You know I am at a point in my career where I have achieved high level qualifications and experience and I have adult children. The decision would have been difficult years ago. But if the Ministry of Health or other government bodies would recognise my work and contribution as someone who can help in the cardio vascular sector, combined procedures and train other doctors, I am ready to help.” He utters that the climate and ocean are positive points for working in Mauritius. However the renowned surgeon is also studying opportunities of working in other countries in the future, like Saudi Arabia.
Since he started his work as surgeon, Piotr has annually performed about 300 cardiac surgeries and about 150 vascular surgeries including aortic dissections, aortic root and arch operations, valve plastics, combined cardio-vascular procedures, among others. But what motivated Piotr to pursue a career as surgeon? The experience doctor says that he was inspired by his father who was also a doctor. “My father was my mentor and he had a strong passion for his job. As a child, seeing my father with his colleagues, visiting hospitals, driving in the emergency vehicles is a kind of experience. Even if you try to get away from it and trying to do your own thing as a teenager, deep down you do feel that that the right path is this one.”
As a young person Piotr says that he was more into sports. “But surgery was also a kind of sports but a different one. If you compare the two, in both you have to be really good in order to achieve high. In both, discipline is a core of your life.” He shares that his beginnings in the Medical Academy in the Department of Vascular, General and Transplant Surgery for the Macro Region (Wroclaw) were a major life changing phase as well as training. “There are over five million people in this macro region but every week, we had to manage emergency general surgeries (cases from the head to the toe excluding orthopaedics) and permanent transplant surgeries. For me as a young doctor, I had to stay one week in the hospital without any break.”
International Experiences
Piotr confides that the best time of his career was working in foreign countries namely in Algeria, Mauritius and UK. “It is another story when you work in a familiar environment. But when you move rapidly to a foreign country, it is definitely challenging as you know no one, you don’t know the circumstances, the instruments, the procedures, you must be very flexible. Everyone will be carefully looking at your hands and each move is noted down by doctors working there for years. They do so as you are new and your performance is established immediately. It is also difficult as each country has different cultures, beliefs and political situations. If you are not a professional, you will not be able to find your position in such place,” he explains.
Piotr has worked for six months (at consultant level) at the University Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, UK in 2009, two contracts in Algeria operating in a private hospital namely in 2009 and 2010 and one cardiovascular contract at the SSRNH, Mauritius. He trusts that if one is fully trained and has the knowledge and skills, he/she will be able to work anywhere. “You will be able to handle any situation.”
On the other hand, the most difficult situation he had to face as a doctor was the death of his father who passed away three years ago. “He had lung cancer. I was very close to him. When I got to know that he was on his deathbed, I was devastated. When I sat with my colleagues and examined his scans one by one, it was a disaster for me not only as a son but as a surgeon. As a doctor I felt helpless, as I never deny opportunities to help a person and here I was not able to do anything to save him,” he confides with sadness.
Advice to aspiring surgeons
The experienced surgeon explains that as he was involved in the education training program with specialisation in vascular and cardiac, he noticed that it was a difficult situation for the trainees. “If you are aiming to become a cardiac specialist in Poland, you have to perform one hundred to one hundred and fifty documented cases per year. If you complete this number of cases you can apply for the national board exams and following this, achieve 2nd level. It is difficult for young doctors to achieve this in Poland and European countries because cases are more complicated and often, you have combined procedures. They are thus very upset with the present situation.”
The surgeon even confides that he knows cases where the young doctors have not performed any cardiac procedures for six years. “This is a real disaster taking place in our field. I have come across colleagues in UK who are over 40 years old but haven’t even harvested even one vein. It is difficult for young doctors to find a space in the theatre and perform.” Piotr explains this is the reason why he is willing to bring his contribution to Mauritius.
Piotr trusts that aspiring surgeons have to bear in mind that the job is not a piece of cake. “It requires much discipline. This is a really exhausting job. You will find yourself alone taking decisions in many instances and there will be no one there to advise you.” He says that diploma and degrees are not the only factors that will make a person a good surgeon. “The number of operations and the number of lives you will save, your skills will make you a real specialist. You have to have the will to persevere.” However, he highlights that the reward is the satisfaction of having helped so many people and saved so many lives.
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