Robots will carry out surgeries at Safdarjung hospital soon

New Delhi: In a significant advancement, robots will soon carry out surgeries at central government-run Safdarjung hospital.

The hospital is in the process of buying a robot at an estimated cost of Rs 18 crore to carry out surgeries.

The poor will be provided this facility for free while those admitted in private wards will have to pay a subsidised amount.

Robotic surgeries cost around Rs four to five lakh in private hospitals, Anup Kumar, professor and head of the department of urology and renal transplant at Safdarjung Hospital, said.

In the procedure, surgical instruments are mounted on robotic arms which will be operated by the surgeon.

"The surgeon will sit in a console which will have a screen with a 3D view of the patient's body. His hand movements at the console will be transmitted to the robotic arms placed over patients body.

"During the entire procedure, the camera transmits live 3D images to the surgeon's console. It is like a laproscopic surgery," Kumar said.

(With PTI inputs)