5g To Enable Docs Miles Away From Patients To Do Surgeries On Them, Health News, ET HealthWorld
Chennai: Using blazingly fast 5G technology, a skilled surgeon will be able to have a robot operate on a patient admitted to a hospital, thousands of miles away, without compromising on precision.
The technology is likely to help surgeons perform remote, across-the-globe procedures that are impossible today, said Bangalore-based senior robotic surgeon Dr S P Somashekhar, who is the chairman of Aster Institute of Oncology, on side-lines of a conference, Oncology updates тАУ 2023, organised by Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research in association with the Tamil Nadu Association of Surgical Oncology on Saturday.
In a robotic surgery, a surgeon control the tools remotely while viewing the surgical site through a high-definition monitor that provides a three-dimensional enlarged image. For now, in most hospitals across India surgeon sits in a room or console away from the patient but in the same hospital building. тАЬIf we have the 5G technology, doctors in India will be able to operate on patients in remote places,тАЭ he said.
The technology has already been demonstrated successfully in several developed countries with strong internet networks. тАЬFor instance, there are reports on how a doctor from the US operated on a patient in France,тАЭ he said.
Hospitals in India are now spending money on India-made equipment that cost about five crore as opposed to imported ones that cost 15тАУ20. The increase in cost compared to conventional or laparoscopic surgery is usually around 35,000 when doctors use indigenous machines but the cost escalates by one lakh if imported machines are used, he added. The IRDA has also released an advisory and several health insurance policies now cover robotic surgery.
Robotic units, he said, have several advantages besides ruling out the need for the physical presence of the operating surgeon.
