A surgeon in Shanghai, China has successfully conducted a remote lung cancer operation on a patient 5,000 km away using a 5G surgical robot – a distance four times from Kano to Port Harcourt.
While the doctor was sitting in Shanghai, the patient was in far West of China.
The surgery was performed on July 13.
Dr Luo Qingquan from Shanghai Chest Hospital, the leading surgeon of the operation, said that success of the operation using surgical robot technology reflects how patients can enjoy high-end medical services in their hometown instead of moving to big cities like Beijing and Shanghai.
According to Shanghai Daily, the hospital is the nation’s first medical facility carrying out robot-assisted surgery on the chest, and it is also the facility carrying out the largest quantity of such surgery in China.
In addition to conducting robot surgery, the hospital has also been involved in the research and development of robot technology.
India, too, has an indigenous surgical robot system, developed by Dr Sudhir Srivastava’s SSI Mantra, that helps doctors conduct robotic surgery even if they’re not in proximity to the patient.
The Indian surgical robot is a modular design with over 5 detachable arms, which can be helpful even in heart surgery.
The surgeon sits at the console station, which has a 32-inch monitor and 3D vision. It also contains a safety camera, which detects the doctor’s presence. If the doctor looks away, the surgery will be paused automatically.
The 3D vision reduces mistakes and accidents. The instruments used in the surgery are 8 mm in size.
While the operation conducted in China was 5,000 km away, the stark difference is that the one recently performed in India was 40 km.