Robotic surgery facility inaugurated at SIUT

A robotic surgery and training centre was inaugurated at Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) on Saturday by the provincial government.

“The robots can also perform surgery on those organs which are difficult to reach by hand, it is a revolutionary initiative in the field of surgery," said Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah at the inauguration of Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery and Training of Pakistan at SIUT.

Murad also congratulated SIUT's founder Dr Adib Rizvi and his team for installing the facility at the hospital.

“Robotic surgery can be performed swiftly and the patient recovers quickly since it reduces pain in the human body as well as blood loss and the chance of infection,” Murad added.

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The provincial chief executive expressed hope that more such centres could be established in the country, giving young doctors modern tools and methods.

"I am proud that the Sindh government has taken a lead in robotic surgery in the country."

Tracing the history of the Robotic Surgery Department and Training Centre at SIUT, Murad said that The first robot was acquired by the Sindh Government in 2017 from Intuitive Surgical Company, USA - The da Vinci System.  

The system was used both by Dr Ruth Fau, Civil Hospital and SIUT and later the Robot was moved to a dedicated Robotic Surgery Unit in SIUT.

Murad added that in order to establish a robotic surgical unit a fund was established where the initial seed money was given by the Sindh government and other main contributors were Bashir Dawood and SIUT North America.

The CM said recently two robotic surgical units were acquired by SIUT from Cambridge Medical Robotics (CMR), the Versius system.

“These are currently used by many centres in Europe, Middle East, India and Latin America, '' he said and added that “this acquisition is part of the SIUT philosophy to remain at the cutting-edge of technology.”

Praising SIUT's founder, the chief minister said that De Adib Rizvi has informed him that the unit has started urological surgeries, to be followed by colorectal and gynaecological surgeries.

Murad added that so far, more than 1,000 robotic surgeries have been performed at the department and SIUT plans to set up a regional robotic surgical training centre to train the next generation of surgeons in this state-of-the-art technology both from within Pakistan and the region.