Knee replacement surgery performed at SSKM free-of-cost

Kolkata: Knee replacement was carried out at SSKM’s annex building Sambhunath Pandit Hospital through a robotic surgery completely free-of-cost. Robotic surgeries were performed in some of the private hospitals in the city at huge costs but for a government health institution it’s a great achievement. It was a dream of the Bengal Chief Minister to introduce robotic surgery in the SSKM Hospital and she had given necessary directives to the hospital authorities in this regard.

A 50-year-old woman with various comorbidities came to the SSKM outdoors with knee related issues. After examining the patient, the doctors felt the necessity of knee replacement. As the patients had several comorbidity factors, it was difficult for the doctors to perform conventional surgery. Hence it was decided that the knee would be replaced through robotic surgery.

A team of doctors was set up that constantly monitored the robotic surgery on a computer screen. The robotic surgery was performed for four hours. The patient has been recovering well after undergoing the surgery.

State’s biggest referral hospital, SSKM now joined elite healthcare institutions by conducting robotic surgery based on artificial intelligence. It was a dream project of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. SSKM doctors were trained on how to operate the robot. The Chief Minister wanted SSKM Hospital to undertake such a venture. This technology is a perfect blend of artificial intelligence with the human brain and was so far, accessible to just a few private hospitals in the country.