Hyderabad infant surgery: In a first-of-its-kind feat in India, a 16-month-old child in Hyderabad underwent robotic surgery performed remotely by a urologist seated 1,600 km away in Gurugram.
Preeti Urology & Kidney Hospital said its Managing Director and Chief Urologist, Dr V. Chandramohan, executed the procedure via the indigenous SSI Mantra robotic platform, with the infant on the operating table at the hospitalās Kondapur unit and the surgeon at the SSI Mantra facility in Gurugram. The operation, enabled by 5G connectivity, lasted about one hour; the child was discharged the next day.
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According to the hospital, the infant was born with ureteropelvic junction obstruction, a congenital blockage preventing urine from draining from the kidney to the bladder. Dr Chandramohan said robotic precision made the minimally invasive repair safer for such a young patient. He added that while a similar paediatric telesurgery was previously reported in China on an eight-year-old, this Hyderabad case may be the youngest reported telesurgery; the hospital described it as a “world-first” for its age.
In a separate instance, the same team conducted what it described as Indiaās first cross-state telesurgery on a woman in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, who had urinary leakage following a hysterectomy. Using the SSI Mantra system over 5G, Dr Chandramohan operated remotely from Hyderabad; the procedure took 1 hour 20 minutes.
Preeti Hospital said the cases underscore how robotic telesurgery can expand specialist access across India. āOne console can connect with up to ten robots at a time, allowing experts to operate remotely so patients in smaller centres need not travel,ā Dr Chandramohan noted.
The hospital credited a joint team of surgeons, paediatric anaesthetists, nursing staff and SSI Mantra engineers with executing the two procedures, calling the projects a showcase for āMake in Indiaā medical technology and its potential to make advanced care more accessible.
