As part of efforts to expand access to technology-driven advanced surgeries, the Redeemer’s Health Village has performed what it described as the first telerobotic surgery in West Africa.
The procedure was carried out at the Redeemer’s Health Village in Mowe, Ogun State, during the weekend.
Tele-robotic 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, and involved surgeons at RHV remotely operating on a patient at the Abuja-based hospital.
Speaking after the surgery, the Chief Executive Officer of RHV, Dr. Adedamola Dada, said the successful telerobotic procedure and other robot-assisted surgeries performed by RHV signal 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 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, the RHV boss said the facility had, on the same day, carried out robotic-assisted pyeloplasty surgery on a 28-year-old patient.
“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, however, urged the Federal Government to support the training of medical professionals in robotic surgery, saying developing local manpower is essential to sustaining the country’s growing adoption of the technology.
Dada said government support through sponsorship and scholarships would enable more surgeons, nurses, biomedical engineers and other specialists to acquire the skills required to perform and support robotic procedures in Nigeria.
He said, “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.”
Dada added, “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.”
Also speaking, the robotic surgeon who led the procedure, Prof. Obi Davies-Ekwenna, said the feat could help Nigeria bridge geographical barriers to expand access to complex procedures across the country.
Davies-Ekwenna said the remote surgery was a pointer to the game-changing nature of technology in delivering precision healthcare in Nigeria.
“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,” the robotic surgeon said.
On his part, the RHV Board Chairman, Dr Kunle Onokoya, said that with robotic surgery, many procedures 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.
