Heal Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, city leaders and managers yesterday attended the inauguration of the robot-assisted surgery ward in Binh Dan Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, the only hospital ever to offer robot-assisted surgeries for adult patients.
Binh Dan Hospital Director Dr. Tran Vinh Hung said that the hospital admits nearly 400,000 patients annually with over 40,000 cases undergoing chest, tumor and urinary surgeries.
The hospital is the first one in the country to perform endoscope surgeries for patients as well as medical workers carriy out more complicated operations.
Dr. Hung said the state-of-the-art robotic surgical system, the da Vinci Surgical System, was made by the American Company Intuitive Surgical. The da Vinci Surgical System is worth VND71 billion (US$3.14 million).
It will be used for treating cancers such prostate gland cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, cutting bile duct follicle and gynecologic surgical procedures.
Employing robot-assisted surgery has many advantages such as the equipment can help the surgeons reach to the most remote and smallest areas of the patient’s body; additionally, doctors can control all the surgical procedures through the console with superb visualization and great precision, making the operational session less stressful and tiresome for the surgeons.
Dr. Hung stressed that the application of hi-tech in treating patients will benefit people because of cheaper treatment fee compared to treatment in foreign countries.
City People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong praised the hospital managers who are determined in investing in modern equipment and sending medical doctors to foreign countries to learn new techniques. He expected the hospital to transfer the technique to other hospitals in the city so that patients can benefit the advanced technique in the world.
Robot-assisted surgery was firstly employed since the end of 1980s, nowadays it is popular in modern hospitals in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and South Korea for complex surgeries.
