Dr Pieter van Dyk, Mr Gawie Rossouw and Mr Anirvan Banerjee enjoying the post-rugby match celebrations.
Duane Mol, Otologist in Private Practice, The Ear and Eye Clinic, Johannesburg, South Africa.
‘Back to Basics’ was a great way to summarise this event, with its in-depth discussions on managing our discipline in a responsible way so as to be accessible, feasible and sustainable for all South Africans in very difficult financial times. Navigating the gap between the private and public sectors remains a huge challenge in South Africa where 63% of private ENT specialists cover 14% of the total population.
The conference was run in association with the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) and we had a good number of American-based surgeons sharing their pearls of wisdom during lectures in their respective fields. As usual, the ethics lecture regarding new trends in social media and AI was thought provoking and well attended. The controversial topic of eustachian tube balloonplasty generated a lively discussion as always, with the paediatric sessions on the difficult airway also being full of treasures to try implement back at home.
Professor John Craig (USA) discussed ‘Non-allergic rhinitis and nasal neurectomy,’ Professor Hesham Saleh (UK) discussed ‘Anterior septumplasty and septal perforation repairs,’ Professor Greg Basura (USA) reminded us how complex tinnitus management was, and Professor Jennifer Kim (USA) discussed microtia and led a carving workshop that was very helpful.
Dr John Callaghan was awarded a well-deserved lifetime achievement award which was unique considering he is still an operating surgeon in his private ENT practice at the age of 97 in Pretoria, South Africa.
But the highlight for most was the congress dinner with some magic of a different kind. Half way through the dinner, England took on South Africa for the semi-final match in the Rugby World Cup, with England dominating the game completely and being ahead for 78 minutes, only to let SA slip past with a narrow one point victory (16-15) and South Africa advanced to the finals in the dying stages of the game.
The most beneficial part of the conference for me was the networking with other surgeons, the microtia carving workshop (Prof Kim), the discussion on the coding rules by the SA guys and the interaction with the trade on new ideas on the market. A huge thank you to Professors Darlene Lubbe and James Loock (pictured right with Dr John Callaghan) for an outstanding conference at such a beautiful venue (and the Cape Town weather played along too).
