Robotic surgery helped 200 Oman patients

Muscat: More than 200 surgeries on Omani patients were conducted using the Da Vinci robot at Apollo Hospitals in India, which provides patients with advantages, such as quicker discharge time, reduced discomfort and pain, minimal scarring, smaller incisions, enhanced magnification, greater accuracy, better precision and less blood loss than conventional laparoscopy offers over open surgeries.
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Speaking to the Times of Oman, Dr K. Hariprasad, chief executive officer, Apollo Hospitals, said these surgeries were done in the last two years and were done with the help of Mazor renaissance spine surgery system at Apollo Hospitals.
“The robotic guided surgery is a method for performing surgery using very small tools attached to a robotic arm. The surgeon controls the robotic arm with a computer. The surgeon sits at a computer station and directs the movements of a robot.
Small surgical tools are attached to the robot’s arms. Surgery can be performed through smaller cuts than open surgery. The small, precise movements that are possible with this type of surgery give it huge advantage over standard surgical techniques. This can allow the surgeon to do a procedure through a small cut that could be done before only with open surgery,” he said. The four armed surgical robotic system is a breakthrough in surgical technology and is used in the specialties of urology, gynaecology, cardiac, gastrointestinal surgery, bariatrics and paediatrics.
This technology provides the surgeon with a 10x magnified, high-definition, 3D-image of the body’s intricate anatomy.
Regarding the journey of Apollo Hospitals in Oman, Hariprasad said Apollo treasures its relationship with the Sultanate of Oman. “Our engagements in Oman dates back to the early 90’s and it has progressed well. Apollo has earned the trust of the people of Oman from Muscat to Salalah. We have had many firsts too in the Sultanate, be it the liver transplant on the smallest baby in India (an Omani baby boy) or introducing the first tele-health service in private healthcare or establishing the first full-fledged sugar clinic in Oman. We also have our franchised medical centre, which was recently upgraded as Apollo Hospitals. Now we are also looking at reaching out to other provinces. At the moment, we have upgraded our 25 bedded Apollo Muscat to a 60 bedded facility as hospital. A further expansion plan would be to look at other provinces and it’s at a discussion stage. Our local partner and MD of Apollo Muscat, V T Saileswaran is also holding discussions with MoH on specific projects. It’s too early to share more specifics.”
The cost of the procedures that an average Omani spends at Apollo Hospitals for a treatment could vary from OMR60 to OMR500, which basically ranges from health checks to minimally invasive procedures,” he added.