Redeemer’s Health Village, RHV, says it has performed what it described as the first telerobotic surgery in West Africa. The procedure was carried out at RHV in Mowe, Ogun State, at the weekend.
Telerobotic surgery, also known as remote surgery, allows a surgeon to operate on a patient from another location.
The procedure, a right radical nephrectomy, was carried out by RHV in collaboration with RoboMed Global and Nisa Premier Hospital, Abuja, with surgeons at RHV remotely operating on a patient at the Abuja hospital.
Speaking after the surgery, Chief Executive Officer of RHV, Dr Adedamola Dada, said the feat marks a new dawn in Nigeria.
“It’s a huge breakthrough, and then of course, it is the first time telesurgery is done in West Africa,” he said.
Dada said the surgical robot at the Abuja hospital was connected to the robotic control system at RHV through an internet connection.
“What this simply means is that for very complicated cases where we don’t even have the manpower in the country, surgeons can stay in the United States and operate on that patient here,” he said.
Before the telerobotic surgery, Dada said the facility had carried out a robotic-assisted pyeloplasty on a 28-year-old patient same day.
“What we have done is called a pyeloplasty. It’s an attempt to reconstruct the pelvis, remove the obstructions, and ensure that the urine flows freely. And for those of us who were in the theatre, it was pretty obvious immediately that the obstruction was removed; the urine started flowing very freely. So it’s a new day in our country,” he said.
He urged the Federal Government to support training of medical professionals in robotic surgery, saying developing local manpower is essential to sustain adoption of the technology.
“Most of the time, the equipment is really not a challenge; the challenge now is the manpower. We have a lot of private sector people, organisations who would be able to bridge that gap in terms of procuring the robots,” he said.
“The government needs to support and sponsor Nigerians- the surgeons, nurses, biomedical engineers – who would want to come for the training by awarding them scholarships so that in another one or two or three years, we would have a lot of professionals who can do this,” he added.
Robotic surgeon who led the procedure, Prof Obi Davies-Ekwenna, said the feat could help bridge geographical barriers and expand access to complex procedures.
“We were able to operate on a patient in Abuja, 500 kilometres away. We were able to operate on a patient with a kidney tumour, a cancer tumour. And so that was successful. It means access to experts from within and outside the country. Telesurgery can be done from any part of the world with precision, with excellent results,” he said.
RHV Board Chairman, Dr Kunle Onokoya, said many procedures previously considered inoperable are now being done successfully.
“The kind of surgery that otherwise would have been inoperable, meaning that the risk from surgery was too great, is now being done with robot-assisted surgery,” he said.
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