The Asian Heart Institute at Bandra-Kurla Complex is setting up the city’s first robotic facility for surgeries.
The Asian Heart Institute at Bandra-Kurla Complex is setting up the city’s first robotic facility for surgeries.
The robot, which will cost around Rs15 crore, will start functioning from August and will be used in both cardiac and non-cardiac surgeries.
The heart hospital is planning to start a facility for non-cardiac diseases in a 10-floor building proposed to be built in the same premises. To be called Asian Hospital, it will specialise in orthopaedic and plastic surgeries, and is expected to be functional in two years.
Officials from the hospital said that the robot will be used in valve replacement and bypass procedures. The hospital will also use the robot surgery facility in urology, gastrointestinal and gynaecology surgeries at the new facility.
According to experts, there are only eight or nine trained robotic surgeons in the country and in Mumbai, only Dr Jaydeep Palep, an Italy-trained surgeon, is familiar with the technique. Dr Palep, who has already done robotic surgeries in Hyderabad and Pune, has joined the Asian Heart Institute for non-cardiac surgeries.
“Once we install a robot, more doctors trained in the procedure will be available. We already have one robotic surgeon and will get more. Robotic surgery will more beneficial in complex surgeries that cannot be done using traditional procedures like laproscopics,” said Dr Vijay D’Silva, medical director, Asian Heart Institute.
He added, “It will be a costlier procedure but initially we will subsidise the cost of surgeries. Every new technique is costlier in the initial period. Once demand for the procedure picks up, the cost of surgery will automatically come down. The robot that we are going to install is the latest and most comprehensive in the country.”
Dr Palep, who is a consultant surgeon attached to various city hospitals said that he did a one-and-half year training in robotic surgery. “There is limited scope for such surgeries in India because there are only five to six medical facilities in the country with a robot.”
Palep added that robotic surgery makes it possible to perform highly complicated and precise operations. “The advanced technique has the potential to simplify complex procedures and it not only increases the safety for patients, but also the availability of the procedure,” he said.
Senior surgeon and medical director of Hinduja Hospital, Dr Gustad Davar, said, “Robotic surgery will be useful for removal of prostate, cardio-thoracic surgery and in gynaecology for minimal invasive surgery. But it is more expensive and the surgery cost almost doubles. Robotic surgery has a limited scope as we cannot do routine surgery with the technique.”
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