B'luru hospitals report significant rise in robotic surgeries

The demand for robotic surgeries is increasing in Bengaluru, with major private hospitals seeing an year-on-year increase of 10-30 per cent in surgery numbers. Currently, only around 10 major chains offer these, and most do a few hundred surgeries annually.

In robotic surgeries, the surgeon sits in a console in the operating room, and uses hand movements to guide the robot to do the surgery. The robot offers vision several times magnified than human vision, has multiple arms with full rotation, and makes only tiny incisions. The advantages are better outcomes, high precision, no need for blood transfusion, fast recovery and lower pain levels.

At Manipal Hospitals, 273 robotic surgeries were done in 2021-22, and 260 this financial year up till January. The numbers have vastly increased compared to the 50-70 annual surgeries when the hospital started using robots a decade ago, says Dr Deepak Dubey, HoD and consultant for robotic surgery.

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He says robots are preferred for surgeries in the abdomen and chest cavity, as open surgeries in these sites require big incisions and cutting open ribs. But robots are now used in nearly all areas including orthopaedics.

Their high precision is especially useful in complex cases like cancer surgeries. Dr Mohan Keshavamurthy, senior director for robotic surgery at Fortis Hospitals, says, “In kidney cancer cases, with robotic surgery we can remove the tumour within 1 mm of normal tissue. This is important because once the cancer is cured, the patient’s quality of life depends on the remaining kidney.” Similarly, organ function is better preserved in cases like prostate and rectal cancer surgeries, which otherwise can cause incontinence.

At Fortis, 45-50 surgeries are done monthly, says Business Head Akshay Oleti. The hospital also has a robot exclusively for orthopaedic surgeries, which does another 50-55 monthly.

At Apollo Hospitals, senior consultant for robotic surgery Dr Saurabh Misra says robotic surgery numbers have been increasing annually by 20-30 per cent as more departments are adopting it.

Dr Somashekhar S P of Aster CMI hospital, a pioneer in robotic surgery in India, says the technology is advancing further with newer aspects like high-speed error checks and better imaging techniques. He adds that the number of robotic surgeries also increased during Covid as it allowed physical distancing between surgeon and patient.

Higher costs

Bengaluru hospitals use imported robotic surgery equipment, which costs close to Rs 20 crore. The cost of consumables during surgery are also high, making the surgeries 15-25 per cent costlier than conventional surgeries. The price difference can go up to a maximum of Rs 2 lakh.

Though insurance companies are supposed to cover robotic surgeries, this doesn’t always happen, says Dr Somyaa Khuller, general surgery consultant at Sakra World Hospital. Currently Kidwai Institute of Oncology is the only government hospital in Bengaluru that does robotic surgery.

But newer robots, including an Indian version that costs Rs 5 crore, are coming up. As they become more popular, more patients will be able to afford robotic surgery, doctors say.