PGIMER Chandigarh to restart robotic surgeries next week

Various benefits of robotic surgery include shorter hospitalisation time, reduced pain and discomfort, faster recovery time, and smaller incisions, resulting into reduced risk of infection

Suspended for four months, the robotic surgeries will restart at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) within a week.

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Various benefits of robotic surgery include shorter hospitalisation time, reduced pain and discomfort, faster recovery time, and smaller incisions, resulting into reduced risk of infection.

The surgeries were suspended as the California-based manufacturer, Intuitive Surgical Incorporation, from which the instruments used by the robotic arm are procured, opened its office in Switzerland to cater to the market in the Asia Pacific region.

The institute in March had placed an order for equipment with the Switzerland-based unit and letter of credit (LC) was forwarded through the Reserve Bank of India, which was rejected and sent back for reconsideration.

The bank returned the LC stating that the order was to be supplied by the Switzerland-based firm while the LC was meant for a California-based bank and it took more than a month to resolve the issue.

Urology department head Dr AK Mandal said the instruments have been successfully procured and reached the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. “The surgeries will restart from the next week,” Dr Mandal said.