Cuttack: In 2017, the state health department had proposed to set up a robotic surgery project at Cuttack’s SCB Medical College & Hospital (SCBMCH).
The state government had targeted to commission it by December, 2017.
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However, the ambitious project has unfortunately been a victim of administrative apathy. Over two and a half years have passed since then but the tendering process of the long awaited project has not been initiated yet.
“In order to provide super specialty facilities at SCBMCH, it was decided that one robotic surgery machine would be installed in the urology department of the hospital. Delicate surgical operations like kidney transplant and treatment of prostate cancer are conducted here,” urology department head and SCB medical college Principal Professor Datteswar Hota, informed.
“Robotic surgery is also helpful for cancer, ENT, heart surgery, gastro surgery, gynecological operations,” he added.
It was Hota’s dream project and for reasons unknown, the ambitious project could not progress. The hospital has sufficient number of expert doctors for the purpose, including 15 MCH house surgeons of urology department. Robotic surgeries can be started as soon as the infrastructure gets ready and machines are installed, Hota added.
Notably, several patients from across the state could have had access to advanced surgical treatment at a much cheaper rate.
Robotic surgery technique has the prime advantage of operating on a patient’s body with minimal surgical cuts as well as minimal bleeding.
PNN
