A workshop on laparoscopy is set to be held in Nairobi later this month.

The two-day workshop running from July 27 to 29 will be hosted by the M.P. Shah Hospital in Nairobi and will bring together a team of expert surgeons.

Laparoscopy is a surgical diagnostic procedure used to examine the organs inside the abdomen – a low-risk, minimally invasive procedure that requires only small incisions.

It is a procedure used to identify and diagnose the source of pelvic and abdominal pain and is usually performed when noninvasive methods cannot help with diagnosis.

The workshop will also mark the launch of the Bariatric surgery programme; this is a form of surgery used to cause weight loss by restricting the amount of food the stomach can hold.

“The department has also embarked upon ‘application and promotion’ of minimally invasive surgery for various surgical conditions including the removal of cancerous tumours, and in the last few years we have achieved great landmarks with outstanding results,” noted a statement by Dr Navin Chander who heads the surgery department.

The launch of Bariatric surgery is expected to benefit obese patients with diabetes using non-invasive interventions.

This form of laparoscopic surgery uses the gastric bypass technology whereby a small pouchis created through division of the top area of the stomach from the rest of the stomach and the end of the divided small intestine is brought up and connected to the newly created pouch.