Nov 30 2010
The Lavale village’s hi-tech cancer hospital in Pune, which is under development, will get a robot for robotic surgeries in order to reduce time and eliminate human errors. This is the second robot to have arrived in Pune city.
The first robot, which uses the Da Vinci system, had arrived in 2009. The Galaxi Care Laparoscopy Institute (GCLI) had used the robot for the oesophagus or food pipe robotic surgery on November 30, 2009. The GCLI has conducted nearly 125 surgeries using the Rs. 9-crore robot in the past one year. The second robot is an updated model of the first robot and is scheduled to be operational by 2011. The second robot will also do cancer surgeries.
GCLI in partnership with Symbiosis is developing the cancer hospital with specialization in robotic surgery and laproscopy at Lavale Village close to Pashan. At present, Delhi has four robots and Chennai has one robot. However, the one in Pune is allocated exclusively to do cancer surgeries. The robot can do all forms of robotic cancer surgeries, which include cancer of the rectum, bladder, prostate and oesophagus.
Medical director of GCLI, Shailesh Puntambekar, commented that the expenditure of robotic surgeries outside India was nearly Rs 10 lakh, whereas in Delhi, it was about Rs. 5 lakh.