Asian Heart Institute inaugurated the first robotic surgical facility in Mumbai, India at the Bandra-Kurla Complex recently, which they named as the Asian Vattikutti centre for robotic surgeries.
The robotic surgical center would be used for performing both cardiac and non-cardiac procedures. The robotic assistance would be used in performing valve replacement, bypass, urological, gynaecological and gastrointestinal procedures. They would be installing the da Vinci robotic surgical system, which comes with simulation capabilities and costs around Rs15 crores. Dr. Ramakanta Panda, the surgeon for the prime minister, gave a demo of the surgical system. The medical director of the hospital, Vijay D’Silva, explained that the hospital had a tie up with the Vattikutti Foundation based in Michigan, US. He stated that the hospital had surgeons who were trained on the system and that Dr. Panda would be involved in the robot assisted surgeries.
The robot assisted procedures would begin after the 15th of July. D’Silva explained that the robot assisted surgery was minimally invasive and caused lesser trauma and pain to the patient. Such surgeries required short stays at the hospital and left the patient with minimum scars. Currently, there are only eight or nine surgeons in the country who are trained in performing robotic surgery. The AHI had sent four doctors to France for a week to get trained in the da Vinci System and is planning to send the next batch shortly. A senior laparoscopic surgeon with AHI stated that robotic surgery was advantageous in performing complex procedures that cannot be performed by conventional methods. He added that it would be particularly useful in cardio-thoracic surgery, prostate removal and gynaecology.
Source: http://www.asianheartinstitute.org/