Pakistan’s first robotic surgery and training centre opens at SIUT

Sindh’s chief minister on Saturday said that robot-assisted surgery is this century’s top innovation in the field of surgery, adding that what makes it useful is its ability to take fine and precise actions under the command of a human surgeon.

“The small spaces in the body where the surgeon’s hands can’t reach and that they eyes can’t see are easily approached by robotic arms,” CM Syed Murad Ali Shah pointed out.

The province’s chief executive was addressing the inauguration ceremony of Pakistan’s first Centre of Excellence in Robotic Surgery & Training established at the Sindh Institute of Urology & Transplantation (SIUT).

He said that the excellent magnification and precision of robotic instruments enable human surgeons to perform precisely what they want to make a patient disease-free. “The benefits of robotic surgery are overarching, influencing urology, and colorectal, hepatobiliary, foregut and gynaecological surgeries.”

Tracing the history of the Robotic Surgery Department & Training Centre at the SIUT, the CM said that the first robot, the da Vinci Surgical System, was acquired by the provincial government in 2017 from Intuitive Surgical in the US. He said the system was used by the Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi and the SIUT, and the robot was later moved to a dedicated robotic surgery unit at the SIUT.

He added that a fund was established to set up a robotic surgery unit, and that the initial seed money was provided by the provincial government, while the other main contributors were Bashir Dawood and the SIUT North America.

Shah said that two robotic surgery units, the Versius Surgical Robotic System, were recently acquired by the SIUT from CMR Surgical, formerly known as Cambridge Medical Robotics.

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

He said robotic surgery is considered the future generation of surgical sciences. “Robotic procedures are associated with less pain, less blood loss and faster recovery. Patients are discharged within a few days, and can resume regular activities.”

The CM said Prof Dr Adib Rizvi had told him that the robotic unit had started with urological surgeries, and that they would be followed by colorectal and gynaecological surgeries.

Shah said he has been told that over 1,000 robotic surgeries have been performed at the department, and that the SIUT plans to set up a regional robotic surgery training centre to train the next generation of surgeons from Pakistan and other parts of the region in the state-of-the-art technology.

Earlier, the CM visited the robotic surgery unit and watched a procedure from the control room. He congratulated Dr Rizvi for establishing a world-class robotic surgery unit. Dr Rizvi thanked the chief executive for his support and cooperation.

‘Political drama’

Talking to the media, when the CM was asked to comment on Prime Minister Imran Khan handing out performance-based certificates to federal ministers, Shah said that it has proved to be a big political drama.

“The minister who has attained the first position has failed to construct a Rs14 billion road from Jamshoro to Sehwan, even though the Sindh government had paid its share of Rs7 billion in 2017. As a result, hundreds of people have died in road accidents there. This is the performance of the number-one minister.” The CM said that another minister, who ranked 11th in the so-called performance list, had written to the PM complaining about making him a minion. “This is a comedy drama the PM has staged, and all its characters will make themselves laughing stocks.”

Talking about the performance of his cabinet, Shah said they are performing to the best of their abilities. Replying to another question, he said a no-confidence motion will be moved in the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies.