Almost 10 years after the first robot was employed in India, and four years since Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) acquired a robotic facility, a medical robot has successfully performed a complex surgery at the distinguished institute.

The robot executed a surgery on a patient with a congenital deformity known as 'tracheoesophageal fistula' which is an abnormal connection between the food pipe and wind pipe through a tubular passage. Herein the condition, food or water can leak into the trachea, which could lead to frequent bouts of pneumonia and include dangers of the patient getting choked.

The sole solution in the case is implementing a repair procedure known as an open thoracotomy, a lengthy and multi-layer surgery where the hole is repaired so that the body can function normally. This surgery was known to show risks like loss of blood, large incision, secondary infection, etc, and the procedure turned out to be costly.

However, now, with the medical robot performing the surgery, risks sprouting from the procedure have been lowered, along with a noticeable fast-tracked recovery.

Professor Rajneesh Kumar Singh, whose team has been employing the medical robot for numerous gastro-esophageal procedures, talked about the adult patient Zoya who underwent the surgery. He shared, "Zoya's story is a case in point. The precision, ease of operation and quick recovery help both the patient and doctors. Operating with conventional method was as strenuous as a five-kilometre-long brisk walk while now it is like a casual stroll over the grass. There is no residual fatigue as the stressors have been eliminated."

In December, 2022, SGPGIMS had crossed the milestone of performing over 500 successful robotic surgeries, which are robot-assisted procedures that help surgeons perform complex surgeries with more control, precision, and flexibility.