Last Updated on November 6, 2019 by The Health Master
NEW DELHI: A robotic surgery facility was opened for public at the Centre-run Safdarjung Hospital on Saturday. According to an official statement, Safdarjung Hospital is the first central government-run healthcare institution to have this latest facility.
Robotic surgery has the advantage of providing minimally invasive surgery, reducing morbidity and mortality significantly of critically ill, cancer and kidney failure patients.
The operating time also decreases, resulting in improvement in turnover of patients and decrease in waiting list of patients for surgery significantly, it said.
Already 25 surgeries have been done using robotic facility, Dr Anup Kumar, head of the department, Urology and Renal Transplant, at the hospital, said.
A robot costs nearly Rs 18 crore and the cost of treatment using this state-of-the-art technology is around Rs 1 lakh more than the cost of any conventional procedure in private facilities.
Dr Kumar said that they would be offering robotic surgeries to the poor for free.
“Others will have to pay for disposables used,” Dr Kumar added.
Unlike a conventional procedure where surgeons have to cut open a patient to access internal organs, robotic surgery is performed using three small holes: through one hole, a camera is inserted for 3D vision and the other two holes help the surgeon operate using instruments held by robotic arms.
“The surgeon has to manoeuvre the robotic arms using a command centre with a 3D screen that looks like a computer. This reduces duration of surgery and the risk of error,” the head of urology department added.
