Krasnoyarsk medical student invented and successfully implemented a simulator for surgeons

A medical student from Krasnoyarsk has created a simulator which is now used by future surgeons to train for complex surgeries on internal organs.

It took the sixth-year student of the Department of Urology Pavel Sobolev only one month to assemble a simulator that allows future doctors to practice endoscopic operations through small punctures in the patient's body. To acquire these skills, students typically go to simulation centers and wait in a queue. Now everything will be much easier. The invention of the Krasnoyarsk student has already received good feedback from experts, one such device has already been bought by the Krasnoyarsk Perinatal Center and other hospitals have shown their interest. An important fact is that Pavel's device is several times cheaper than those the hospitals currently need to buy abroad.

According to Pavel Sobolev, the creator of the simulator, foreign variants manufactured in the USA and Great Britain cost about 300 thousand rubles, Russian-made ones cost about 100 thousand. His device's current cost is about 22 thousand rubles.

Previously, Pavel became known for having personally asked the Russian president at a youth forum in Moscow to sign a postcard for his sick grandmother.

Pavel said that he got that chance to meet Vladimir Putin after winning a 300 thousand grant at the TIM "Biryusa" forum. He used the grant money to develop, make and provide to the hospitals his first simulators for surgeons.

You can watch the video with Pavel operating his device at the Russian First Channel site: Russia - a country of opportunities!

The metal block you can see contains a silicone model, a copy of a human internal organ. The young surgeon Pavel Sobolev explains that he assembled his first simulator for personal use - to exercise in laparoscopy, a method that allows to avoid large incisions during surgery.

"The surgeons, my colleagues, liked these simulators very much, they wanted to put them in hospitals so that they could train - not only young specialists, but already experienced doctors," says Pavel Sobolev, the creator of the laparoscopic simulator.

After winning the grant, Pavel opened his own company and now plans to improve his device and start mass production.

Article by the Chief specialist
of International Affairs Division of Mayor's Department
Roman Teleshun teleshun@admkrsk.ru​