16-Month-Old Baby Successfully Operated From 1,600 km Away

Hyderabad: We are familiar with robotic surgery and have heard about telesurgery as well. But combining both to provide relief to patients in remote areas has now become a reality. Using India’s indigenously developed SSI Mantra robotic system, such telesurgeries were successfully performed.

Dr V. Chandramohan, Managing Director of Preeti Kidney Hospital and Chief Urologist, shared details of these remarkable achievements.

“A 16-month-old baby was born with a congenital kidney problem. The renal pelvis – a funnel-shaped part of the kidney that connects to the ureter – was blocked, a condition known as ureteropelvic obstruction. As a result, urine could not flow from the kidney to the bladder.

The baby needed surgery to clear the obstruction. Since the child was only 16 months old, we decided to opt for robotic surgery. The baby was brought to Preeti Kidney Hospital, Kondapur, while I sat at the console in Gurugram at the SSI Mantra office, about 1,600 kilometres away.

I performed the surgery remotely through the robot. It took just an hour, enabled by 5G technology and robotic systems. Earlier, a similar telesurgery had been reported in China for an 8-year-old. This makes our case the world’s youngest telesurgery ever performed on a 16-month-old child, who was discharged the very next day,” explained Dr Chandramohan.

In another case, a woman in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, suffered from urinary leakage after a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus). She required advanced robotic surgery, but local surgeons there were only trained in open procedures.

They reached out to Preeti Hospital, and through 5G connectivity and the SSI Mantra robotic system, Dr. Chandramohan performed the surgery remotely. The operation lasted an hour and 20 minutes, marking the first-ever cross-state telesurgery of its kind.

These surgeries were made possible with the support of the hospital’s Executive Director Dr. Roopa, CEO Dr. Rangappa, Senior Surgeon Dr. Ramakrishna, Senior Urologists Dr. Hemant and Dr. Soundarya, Pediatric Anesthetist Dr. Devender, Pediatrician Dr. Vamsi, coordinators Rajender, Ganesh, and Anil, Senior Technician Sridhar, robotic engineers Durgesh and Ishan Prashant, SSI Mantra Director Vishva, and SSI Mantra Robotics CEO Dr. Sudhir Srivastava, among others.

The collective effort of this Indian team proved that distance is no barrier when technology and expertise come together.

“India is a vast country, and it is not possible to have top-level specialists in every corner. If groups of doctors invest in surgical robots, experts from major centres can operate remotely. A single console can connect with up to ten robots simultaneously.

This not only helps patients but also serves as a learning tool for local doctors,” Dr. Chandramohan added.