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Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group
Robotic surgery or robot-assisted surgery has been in practice for over two decades now. They are the cutting-edge medical technology, representing the next era of surgical innovation, and offer numerous advantages over traditional open surgeries. They are an advancement in minimally invasive surgical techniques through augmented vision, precision control, and better ergonomics for the surgeon. Robotic surgery is essentially remote-controlled by a human surgeon and offers access to hard-to-access parts of the body. They are 100% safe and permit surgeons to perform difficult surgeries with quick recovery times.
With the global robotic surgery market at USD 3.6 billion in 2021 and expected to reach USD 18.2 billion in 2030 1 , robotic surgeries are an important step for improved patient care and will pave the way for an increased percentage of medical value travellers looking for quality care from around the world.
The most popular robotic system, the da Vinci system, uses a magnified 3-D high-definition vision system and special instruments that bend and rotate far greater than the human wrist. The doctors control the Da Vinci robot while sitting at a computer screen rather than by standing over a patient. Robot-assisted surgeries have benefits such as improved dexterity beyond a surgeon’s natural physical limitation, less loss of blood and risk of infections, few scars, and shorter hospital stays. They are used in general surgery, gynaecology, orthopaedics (knee replacement, spinal surgeries), urology, and head and neck surgeries. Critical surgeries, like the removal of tumours and fibroids, are performed with robot-assisted surgeries with utmost accuracy leaving the organ intact.
“ The purpose is not to replace surgeons, but to augment their capabilities and free up time, which surgeons can use to plan and carry out more complex operations.”
A rise in the number of robotic surgical procedures is expected globally due to demand in quality care and an increase in chronic diseases, with international patients seeking medical treatment for oncology, organ transplants, cardiac procedures, orthopaedics, and neurosurgery. However, the entrance of robotic surgery in mainstream healthcare infrastructure has been slow due to high capital requirements, limiting the number of healthcare facilities that can perform robotic surgeries. Once procured, hospitals require accurate management of the facility for a successful run which includes enough patient flow and expertise to achieve accurate clinical outcomes.
India is the preferred country for medical value travellers as not only does the country possess the expertise to diagnose and treat a full range of diseases, but in most cases, the treatments offered are cost-effective. The medical tourism index is expected to reach more than 12 billion USD in 2022, and robot-assisted surgeries will be the mode for fetching high revenues through medical tourism.
To increase the scope of robotic surgeries for a higher percentage of the Indian population and medical tourists looking for excellent treatment outcomes along with cost savings, the government can take a number of actions such as implementing policies that facilitate the adoption and access to this technology, including but not limited to, lowering import duty and cess on robot-assisted surgical equipment. The reduced import duty will lead to its widespread use, increasing awareness about the technique and reducing hesitancy amongst the Indians. The dependency on imported equipment can be overcome by encouraging local manufacturing. Through the ‘ Make in India’ program and supplementing extensive research and development activities, the government can lend a helping hand to robotic surgery start-ups and MSMEs. This would create several ancillary opportunities too.
Robotic surgeries are a form of specialisation not accessible to many medical students. For nurturing the new generation of surgeons and the existing ones, hospitals need to develop training programs to support surgeons through the various stages, from initial exposure to the technology to advanced training. Introduction of a course on robotic surgery in educational institutes to learn in-depth technology and gain adequate skills on the equipment.
Through AI-predicted patterns, robot-assisted surgeries expedite procedures with the highest level of accuracy. Robotic surgeries provide solution to the biggest problem, i.e. long waiting periods for surgeries. Due to quick recovery time, increased access to robotic surgeries, and sufficient available expertise, the wait time for patients would decrease and they can return to work sooner. Given our desire to excel in healthcare, with well-trained robotic surgeons with state-of-the-art infrastructure, India has an opportunity to become a world leader in robotic surgery.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.
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