To expose resident surgeons to Robotic-Assisted Surgery (RAS), the State-run Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology has tied up with Intuitive India, a global technology company specialising in minimally invasive care and RAS.
Through this initiative called I-ROPE (Intuitive Robotic Onboarding Program and Education), Kidwai institute and Intuitive aim to familiarise more than 35 resident surgeons with robotic assisted surgery, its technology, clinical applications and its benefits.
I-ROPE is an industry-academia collaborative programme, which is aimed at helping young surgeons understand the know-how and benefits of Robotic Assisted Surgery (RAS) procedures that are growing in demand using Intuitive’s da Vinci surgical system.
Kidwai Director C. Ramachandra said with robotic surgery becoming more widespread, early exposure to the robotic platform is most important. “The current landscape of graduation level medical education is yet to widely integrate robotic surgery into the curriculum in a comprehensive manner. We are trying to bridge this gap by introducing I-ROPE for our students and residents to get familiar with robotic assisted surgery,” he said.
“We hope that this programme will inculcate the curiosity in the minds of new clinical talent about robotic assisted surgery and its various clinical applications that have shown great patient outcomes. Early adoption of technology not only reduces the learning curve but also enables the country’s surgical healthcare landscape to function more effectively,” the director said.
This programme was developed by Intuitive India together with AIIMS Delhi, last year. As a pilot, AIIMS Delhi ran this programme in their oncology divisions. Based on the surgical students’ feedback, Intuitive extended this program to other specialities and institutions across India, he added.
