Prof. Piotr Skarzynski: We do not want to rest on our laurels

You have been honored with the Emerald Award of the Economic Forum "Welconomy in Torun". What does this award mean to you?

This award is certainly an appreciation of the work of our entire team. It's also motivation to act even more effectively in the future and confirmation that our path was the right one. The award also gives us the opportunity to present to the public the medical solutions we have implemented so far. For me, the Welconomy Emerald is also important for personal reasons - the cradle of the Welconomy congress is the Kuyavian-Pomeranian region, and I have family ties to the region - my grandfather came from Toruń.

The laudation emphasized that you help not only patients in Poland, but also on other continents. Often these are countries less developed than Poland. How has the war in Ukraine affected the international market for specialized medical services?

From the point of view of my specialty - otorhinolaryngology - a direct consequence of the hostilities in Ukraine is the huge number of patients suffering from noise-induced hearing damage as a consequence of explosions and blasts. Unfortunately, opportunities to help these patients remain very limited for the time being. Therefore, whenever possible, we try to support local specialists in Ukraine so that they can carry help on the ground. Nevertheless, the complications will become apparent before long and may be largely irreversible. The second issue is the so-called health debt. Many surgeries and procedures have ceased or are being performed to a lesser extent. Ultimately, this will give us a large group of patients to take care of in the future.

In our branches that operate in Ukraine, activities have been reduced. We have not closed these facilities because our help is needed there. Some patients came to Poland and received care here. Telemedicine has also played an important role.

As for the countries of the former Soviet Union, we have completed the operation of the representative office in Belarus, while we are developing very much in Kyrgyzstan.

A few years ago you announced the opening of an outpost in Senegal and further expansion into African countries. How does this situation currently look and what are the plans?

The African market is very diverse. Expansion plans or cooperation plans have to be adjusted very often, adapted to the current situation. Nevertheless, the facility in Senegal has been operating successfully for several, and we have also been able to implement screening projects in cooperation with local specialists and universities in Rwanda, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania, for example. We are keen that specialists from these countries can learn from us, gain expertise. Very many of them have also visited Kajetany. Thanks to this transfer of knowledge, local specialists are able to help patients more effectively on the spot, using our support when necessary, thanks to telemedicine solutions, among other things.

Recent times have undoubtedly seen the development of telemedicine. How can it develop further?

Undoubtedly, telemedicine has experienced its tremendous boom during the pandemic and will grow even faster covering more areas in the near future. It will be increasingly used in diagnosis, screening or prevention. It can be used in rehabilitation and monitoring its progress. With telemedicine, we can support the training system and increase the knowledge of specialists, help them make medical decisions and select appropriate therapies.

In 2021, the team under your leadership was awarded the Golden Scalpel Award for innovative surgery combining different surgical techniques. How do you see the future of surgery? What role will artificial intelligence and robotics play?

In this regard, the cooperation of specialists from different scientific areas in the search for new materials, devices, technologies is important. Thanks to cooperation with engineers, with universities such as the Warsaw University of Technology, we have the opportunity to use new solutions in surgery. Developments in this area now make it possible to restore to patients not only the ability to hear, but also the comfort of everyday life. We can now also help those patients who underwent procedures many years ago. This is what has been recognized by the Award Committee.

In operations in our specialty, the share of robots is not large so far - we use them in single procedures, but we are constantly looking for new opportunities, for example, in the use of artificial intelligence, in processes that can support the work of doctors.

What are the major challenges facing otolaryngology in the coming years?

In the field of otolaryngology, a major challenge will be the complications after COVID-19. Unfortunately, there are many of them and they cover a wide range of problems including total deafness. For the time being, we can't yet quantify the exact extent of the problem - many people only realize after some time that something is still wrong with their hearing after all, but we know that this is a challenge that awaits us in the coming years.

The second aspect is the increasing number of allergies, which translates into upper respiratory problems. This particularly affects children, who as a consequence are more likely to get infections, such as ear infections or have tonsil problems.

And what are the most important challenges for you as a professor right now?

As president-elect of the American Academy of Otolaryngology, I would very much like otolaryngologists from South America to visit our facility in Kajetany at least once in their lives - to see the projects we are implementing and learn about new treatment options that they will then implement in their own countries.

I would like the team I lead and the people who want to join us to have a chance to develop their careers in a more efficient and easier way, if only with representatives of American centers. This guarantees faster access to knowledge, technology and can translate into the treatment process for our patients.

In closing, I wanted to ask about the most important developments, otolaryngology, that await us in the coming years in Poland and the world?

A month ago we received information that the world's largest congress on hearing implants will be held in Poland in 2026 - a great honor for us. This year, our facility in Bishkek will be organizing the 2nd World Congress on Ear Noise. This is the first congress of such high rank to be held in Kyrgyzstan.

Since the Polish school of otolaryngology has an excellent brand worldwide, we must continue to make every effort to maintain such a position. We do not want to rest on our laurels, we take care of the development of our team, and through cooperation with international centers we ensure, access to the latest medical solutions for our patients.