KARACHI: On the concluding day of the three-day international multidisciplinary robotic surgery workshop at the OT Complex Civil Hospital Karachi and the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) on Saturday, a “successful” robotic surgical procedure was performed for the first time in Pakistan on a female patient.

Hailing from Balochistan, the woman had intractable bleeding acquiring multiple transfusions.

The procedure called hysterectomy was performed, through robotic surgery in which the uterus of the 55-year-old patient was removed.

The patient will be discharged after 24 hours.

Robotic surgeons’ team comprising Prof Shamim Khan of the King’s College London and Dr Kankipati Shanti Raju from Guys and St Thomas Hospitals London performed the procedure along with a team of support staff.

The robotic technique used during the surgery was the first of its kind in the country.

Medical experts have described the “successful” procedure as a major breakthrough in the field of robotic surgery in Pakistan particularly in the field of gynaecology.

They said this would open new vistas of robotic surgery in the country.

The SIUT had arranged an international workshop to discuss the impact and benefits of robotic surgery in the field of urology, general surgery and gynaecology.

The three fields were exclusively discussed during the workshop in which live surgeries were performed for three days and live telecast from OT Complex, Civil Hospital Karachi.

Workshop was participated by a team of visiting surgeons from Britain along with surgeons from the SIUT and the Civil Hospital.

The surgeons during the workshop discussed the initial high cost of this state-of-the-art surgery.

However they were of the opinion that keeping in view its “benefits — less pain, less loss of blood and faster recovery as compared to traditional surgery — the greater use of robotic surgery was needed”.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2019