Necessity the Mother of Invention

[Applause]

they say that necessity

is the mother of invention

i grew up in lebanon during a time of

war

and conflict scarcity and inequality

during a time when lives were destroyed

babies decapitated

children orphaned wives widowed

and lebanese of all age and gender

crippled by the most horrific and

indescribable injuries

that still scar my memory to this day

i saw firsthand how access to safe and

affordable healthcare

was not a privilege everyone enjoyed

at times it made me feel really helpless

and at times empowered this was the root

of my inspiration

i believe so strongly that if we look to

areas of the world where health care is

needed most

to those areas where even access to the

basics is a major challenge

that it is there that we can find

solutions relevant to us all

for it is in these places that we find

the courage

to embrace the unknown and to take steps

that help us move

forward

i always knew i wanted to be a surgeon a

reconstructive surgeon

because i really wanted to make a

difference in patients lives

i wanted to restore their form and

function

at a young age i learned about some of

the inspirational work some charities

were doing in transforming patients

lives

blighted by physical deformity caused by

poverty

by disease by violence in areas of the

world where access to reconstructive

surgery was virtually non-existent

this was something i wanted to be a part

of

i’d like to introduce you to ali ali was

a 21 year old young man in the heart of

gaza

the eldest of a big family and the sole

breadwinner

working extremely hard every day to make

sure there was enough food on the table

for his family for his brothers and

sisters

and despite this heavy responsibility on

such young shoulders

ali was a happy optimistic young man

with big dreams

he wanted to be a nurse he wanted to

secure a stable job

but more importantly he wanted to give

back to his computer to his community

a community that suffered and endured

for so long

suddenly ali’s life was flipped upside

down

like so many people he knew he too fell

victim to the violence that plagues life

in gaza on a daily basis

he was at the wrong place at the wrong

time and got caught in a bomb blast

injury

his hand was mutilated his dreams

crushed

and his ambitions of becoming a nurse

snuffed out in a matter of seconds

hampered by his ability to work his

future looked extremely bleak

dr hafez a local surgeon heard about

ali’s case and was moved by his plight

he was determined to do whatever it took

to help him

but he had one big problem he needed

access to expertise which was not

available in gaza

the answer came to him when he heard

about a new cutting-edge

technology that would allow him to

access expertise from outside of gaza to

help him

using an augmented reality collaborative

software

a surgeon outside of gaza was able to

virtually transport himself into dr

hafiz’s operating room

simply by using his ipad

through the software he was able to

visually and practically engage in the

operation

to virtually scrub in and by mentoring

and proctoring them step by step using

illustrations and diagrams

together they were able to reconstruct

ali’s hand as if he was standing right

there in the operating room with them

now ali had a chance a chance at a

positive life

a meaningful life a life he wanted to

live

this technology transformed his life and

his family’s life they now had hope

he was now able to work again and he was

now able to pursue his dreams of

becoming a nurse

i’ve always been struck by the strange

imbalance between access

to health to surgical services and need

parts of the world struck by war famine

poverty and extreme deprivation

and those areas where we know that

surgical services can make the biggest

difference

are the areas with the greatest scarcity

this was the inspiration that led me to

create and design the software

the germ of this idea came from a need

and a necessity

i asked myself how can we address this

this imbalance between supply and demand

in a world where billions of people

carry around a device

every day that allows them to talk to

anyone no matter where they are on the

planet

surely we didn’t have to rely solely on

having a surgeon physically present in

an operating room

technology was removing barriers to

space and time

all we had to do was to apply that

technology in the right ways

we face a scarcity of surgical resources

in our nhs 2 the nhs

that we love and work in with increasing

budgetary constraints

and an ever-increasing constraint and

demand to be

faster quicker sharper leaner rationing

is becoming an everyday reality

in surgery this translates into special

services such as oncology and heart

disease

centralizing into fewer and fewer

priority settings

and whilst this improves control of

resources

it reduces access at a local level

i’m determined that things don’t need to

be this way

imagine that specialists instead of

being isolated in certain locations

could share their expertise freely

without ever having to leave where they

are

imagine what this would do to waiting

times and how much money could be saved

and imagine how this free flow of

knowledge could breathe life back into

surgical training

where students and trainees could sit in

on a wider range of procedures

without ever having to leave their

locations

and that they could be inspired by

world-renowned experts no matter where

they were in the world

and imagine how these expert skills

rather than shrinking into isolated

pockets could blossom and spread around

the country and around the world

this is not science fiction this is

something i have made possible through

passion and perseverance

these ideas were born out of a challenge

of necessity

and by embracing that challenge we are

able to tackle much wider issues in

healthcare

if i ask one thing of you tonight it is

to open your minds

open to your mind to the possibility

that we can be friends with technology

it has allowed me to achieve what i

always set out to do

to make a difference in people’s lives

and to my profession

for me and for others technology was and

is a step into the unknown but by

embracing that challenge

and when necessity forces us to we can

achieve some really amazing things

thank you

[Applause]