SSKM first hospital in Eastern India to launch robotic surgery free-of-cost
Kolkata: The IPGMER & SSKM Hospital is the first government hospital in Eastern India to launch robotic surgery taking the health infrastructure in the state a step ahead. The state government will spend a cost of Rs 6.4 crore for
installing the robot.
The state Health department has already sanctioned the amount to bring this modern technology to further boost healthcare. Robotic surgeries will be carried out at the hospital free-of-cost.
It was a dream of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to introduce robotic surgery in the SSKM Hospital and she had given necessary directives to the hospital authorities in this regard. According to hospital sources, the SSKM is expected to get the machine installed and commissioned by the end of May.
The proposed robotic surgical system was equipped with the original technology from the UK and was programmed to perform various surgeries. A UK-based company will provide the hospital with the most advanced robot.
If equipped with such a robotic facility, a private hospital would have charged a patient a few lakhs of rupees for carrying out a surgery. The patients will be able to avail the facility at the SSKM completely free-of-cost.
The facility can be utilised for multi-disciplinary procedures. The SSKM has, however, initial plans to use this technology for surgical procedures in fields, like general surgery, urology and gynecology before expanding the spectrum.
Some doctors at the hospital have already undergone sensitisation and attended workshops on robotic surgery.
Once the equipment is installed, a certain number of doctors, nurses and technicians will undergo multiple rounds of training before operating the robot, a senior official from the hospital said.
Incidentally, knee replacement was carried out at SSKM’s annex building Sambhunath Pandit Hospital through a robotic surgery free-of-cost recently.
Robotic surgeries were performed in some of the private hospitals in the city at huge costs but for a government health institution it’s a great achievement.
