First international medical conference on hernia to be held in Saudi Arabia

The world’s first medical conference on hernia disease will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It starts on 13 January and lasts for two days.

The conference will inform more than 300 health personnel about the latest methods of treating hernia disease and develop their surgical skills by discussing experiences with hernia patients. The overall aim of the conference is to improve the level of health service provided in the country.

There will be several sessions, including lecturers at the highest level in surgery, as well as international speakers from the Middle East, and Vice President of the European Society for Thoracic and Oesophageal Surgery, Professor Sebastian Schopmann, Lecturer at the University of Austria, who is also honorary president of the conference.

Topics to be discussed include awareness and education about hernia disease, latest methods of treatment, experiences of doctors while treating patients and the latest technologies, such as the use of binoculars and bots to perform operations.

The conference is the first in terms of comprehensiveness for hernia patients. Professor Schopmann said the quality of topics and selection of specialists will allow the exchange of experiences between doctors to reach the best treatment method, ultimately benefitting patients. He explained that there are more than 4,000 hernia patients in the world out of every 100,000, over the age of 45 years.