Scalpel meets software: Robotic surgeries go high-tech in A’bad

Times News NetworkR obots are reshaping the future of surgeries in Ahmedabad. Case in point: a joint replacement surgery on July 26 at a city hospital where a next-gen fully autonomous robot was used for a joint replacement procedure. It was the clinical trial for a US-based robotics company specializing in joint replacement surgeries. The saw-based robotic arm with seven-axis movement imitated the human hand movements to perform the successful procedure.Dr Vikram Shah, CMD of Shalby Hospitals, who was part of the trial, said that it was a new chapter in use of robotics for surgeries with a fully-automatic system. The hospital currently performs about 20% of its total surgeries with robots.Robotic surgery is gaining momentum across disciplines and hospitals in Ahmedabad, driven by patient preference for quicker recovery, reduced blood loss, and fewer complications. According to Dr Bharat Gadhvi, president of the Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (AHNA) and regional director at HCG Hospitals, about 15–20% of surgeries in major hospitals are now robot-assisted. "Patients today are looking for better results with relatively less recovery time and less blood requirements. Thus, almost all major hospitals have got robots for surgical procedures."Dr Parth Desai, COO of KD Hospital, said they are seeing a rise in robot-assisted surgeries in disciplines like oncology, orthopaedics, gastrointestinal, and bariatrics. "In the past few years, we have seen an increase in both facilities with robots and trained human resources in the procedure that has made the transition possible," he said.On the flip side, experts pointed out the relatively high cost when compared to conventional surgery and the non-inclusion of such procedures in several health insurance plans. They added that the expertise is still concentrated in Tier 1 cities, and the cost of installation is often prohibitive for small- and mid-sized hospitals."From a surgeon's point of view, the entire system provides much more precision. Imagine looking at the area to be operated on 10 times bigger and in a 3D view. Thus, while it has remained a go-to choice for cancer surgeries, now many benign tumours are also being removed through robotic procedures," said Dr Mahesh Patel, GI onco-surgeon at Zydus Hospital.