US foundation to set up robotic surgery facility at IMS-BHU

VARANASI: A US-based foundation will set up a robotic surgery system at the poly-trauma ward of the multi-specialty Trauma Centre at the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS), Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
“The foundation realizes that India has immense scope for robot-assisted surgery. All that we need is skilled manpower for doctors. The robotic surgery system will be a gift from a US foundation to BHU and will be established here soon,” CEO of US-based Vattikuti Foundation Dr Mahendra Bhandari told TOI on Friday.
“Since the system is quite expensive, we have asked the company that prepares the surgical system to cut down on the cost so it could benefit the people, specially those living below poverty line,” he added.
“The foundation has been working in India since 2010 and robotic surgical system has been launched at Delhi (9), Mumbai (4), Kochi (2), Hyderabad (2), and one each in Bengaluru, Indore, Chennai, Chandigarh and Kolkata,” said Dr Bhandari, who is the former director of Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow.
Elucidating about robotic surgery and its advantages, Dr Bhandari said, “While the robotic surgery is conducted by a four-armed robot, its movements are controlled by a trained doctor. An arm of the robot controls the camera and the other three hands manipulate the surgical instruments. The entire surgical process is observed through 3-D high-definition vision system for a clear and magnified view inside a patient's body.”
Special training will be provided to surgeons to handle robotic equipment and to explore different aspects of using the robot. The robot-assisted surgery also has many advantages over traditional or open surgery as it is minimally invasive, has fewer complications, shorter hospital stays of patient, less risk of infection and less pain, reduces blood loss and helps with greater precision and visualization, said Dr Bhandari, who is also director of the US-based Robotic Surgery Education and Research Institute at Henry Ford Hospital.
A California-based company manufactures surgical robots named ‘da Vinci’ surgical system. Two members of the company, including its vice-president, doctor and professor at Standford University and another professor at Stanford visited the Trauma Centre and interacted with BHU vice-chancellor Prof G C Tripathi on Friday afternoon.
“Once the company representatives are satisfied and agree on its cost, the system will be established at the Trauma Centre,” informed Dr Bhandari. While the cost of instruments of system is around Rs 90,000, the estimated cost of operation may range between Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh, he said, adding that cost of the surgical system is Rs 18 crores.
Meanwhile, director of IMS-BHU R K Goel and grandson of BHU founder Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Justice Girdhar Malaviya, said that this gift of surgical system in varsity’s centennial year will not only help in treatment of patients, but would also be handy for doctors.
“For me, IMS is one of the greatest assets to university and significant because people of all classes are treated here and that the institute strives hard doing research in use of modern technologies. The gift of surgical system too will not only help in treatment of patients but explore areas of research,” the BHU vice-chancellor said.