Global Diabetic Foot Course Speaker
Senior consultant general surgeon and podiatrist
Department of podiatrist surgery. India
Dr.Ajit Kumar Varma, completed his schooling from Central School, N.Delhi (C.B.S.C), in 1971. He passed his M.B.B.S from the University of New Delhi, in December 1980. He then joined the Indian Army Medical Corps, in 1981. While serving in the Indian Army, he completed his Masters in General Surgery from ‘Armed Forces Medical College’, Pune in May 1990. Here, he had immense experience in trauma surgery and various emergency surgeries. In August 1997, he resigned from the Armed Forces as a Lieutenant colonel. He then worked for a few years in a couple of major hospitals in Kerala, in the departments of general surgery and gasterosurgery, carrying out all types of elective and emergency surgeries, including surgeries for gastro-intestinal malignancies and laparoscopic gastro-intestinal surgeries. In May 2004 he joined the ‘Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and research centre’, Kochi, Kerala, a 1400 bed, tertiary referral hospital, as the chief of the Unit of diabetic lower-limb and Podiatric Surgery. He has been the organizing secretary of the International 'Amrita Endocrinology and Diabetic Foot Conference', held once in two years, in the institute campus. On 1st June 2015 he joined the Aster Medcity Hospital, a quartinary care institute, Kochi, Kerala, as Senior Consultant of the Department of Podiatric Surgery.This is the largest of its kind in India, and concentrates mainly on limb salvage. Cases managed include extensive necrotizing fasciitis, plantar-space infections, diabetic gangrene of the lower limb and osteomylites, and severely destroyed foot and ankle Charcot. This is the only center in India where foot and ankle reconstructive surgeries are being performed routinely in large numbers, in high-risk Diabetic patients. He has devised a novel technique of foot and ankle stabilization, ‘The Amrita Sling Technique.’ He has also devised techniques of using Polymethyl methacrylate, to replace severely destroyed Charcot foot bones. These manuscripts have been published in international medical journals, and the surgical videos have been uploaded in the You Tube. He has also developed a new polymer based footwear for diabetic patients, which has been ‘patented’. In January 2010, he was conferred with the prestigious Dr.S.C.Misra medical oration award. He is the principal investigator in a number of major research programmes. Most notable among these is the new invention of an entire foot bones replacement prosthesis. This again has been provisionally patented. By comprehensive management, the center has been able to maintain a limb salvage rate of 91.5%, in diabetic foot and lower-limb problems, comparable to the best centers in the world. He has over 200 research papers published in national and international journals. He has hands on experience of working in eminent diabetic foot centers in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. He has been invited as a guest faculty for many national and international Diabetic Foot conferences, the most notable being to the premier ‘World Diabetic Foot Conference (DFCon—2014)’, held at Los Angeles from 19th March ’14 to in 22nd March 2014. He was invited to speak on two topics, one on ‘Salvage procedures in Diabetic Foot infections’, and a ‘Video presentation of the ‘novel foot and ankle reconstruction techniques’, which he has devised