SSKM becomes Eastern India’s 1st govt hospital to offer free robotic surgeries

Kolkata: The SSKM Hospital has become the first government hospital in Eastern India to perform a robotic gallbladder surgery free of cost. This facility will benefit lower-middle-class patients who cannot afford expensive robotic procedures at top private hospitals, allowing them to undergo the operation at SSKM completely free of charge.

A robot successfully performed gallbladder surgery on a 45-year-old patient from Murshidabad at the hospital. A team of doctors was also involved in the process, who guided the robotic surgery.

According to hospital sources, the operation was performed in 35 minutes on Tuesday. It was learnt that the patient’s health condition was stable. In a separate case, robotic surgery was carried out to remove the ovary of a 46-year-old woman who was admitted to the gynecological ward. Both surgeries were conducted on patients at no cost.

Thanks to the Chief Minister’s visionary move, the advantage of robotic surgery technology will now be open to patients from lower- and middle-income groups. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had recently inaugurated an advanced robot facility at the SSKM hospital. The facility was installed at Rs 9 crore.

The state’s biggest referral hospital is equipped to carry out full-fledged robotic surgery. The robotic surgery unit has been set up at the new OPD building of the hospital.

An official at the SSKM stated that the robotic surgical system, equipped with the latest technology, has been integrated with original technology from the UK and is programmed to perform various surgeries.

The hospital will deploy this technology for surgical procedures in fields like general surgery, urology and gynecology, pediatric surgery, neurosurgery, orthopedic and plastic surgery, etc.

Some doctors at the hospitals had already undergone sensitisation and attended workshops on robotic surgery. The proposal for it was again mooted in 2019 when Banerjee had accepted it.

Sources said CM Banerjee personally ensured that the project is materialised.