Doctors in Ogun perform telerobotic surgery in Abuja

Doctors located in Ogun State, South West Nigeria at the weekend performed surgery on a patient in Abuja, the country’s capital through what was described as the first telerobotic surgery in West Africa.

This advanced technology-based surgery was carried out at Redeemer Health Village in Mowe, Ogun State.

Tele-robotic surgery, also known as remote surgery, allows surgeons to operate on patients from another location.

The procedure, a right radical nephrectomy, was performed by RHV in collaboration with RoboMed Global and Nisa Premier Hospital, Abuja, and involved surgeons at RHV operating remotely on patients at the Abuja-based hospital.

Speaking after the operation, RHV Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Adedamola Dada, said the success of telerobotic procedures and other robot-assisted operations carried out by RHV heralds a new dawn in Nigeria.

“This is a major breakthrough, and certainly the first time telesurgery has been performed in West Africa,” he said.

Dada said the surgical robot at Abuja Hospital was connected to the robot control system at RHV via an internet connection.

“What that means is that for very complicated cases where we don’t even have the workforce in this country, surgeons can stay in the United States and operate on those patients here,” he said.

Prior to the telerobotic surgery, RHV bosses said that the facility had, on the same day, performed a robot-assisted pyeloplasty on a 28-year-old patient.

“What we did is called pyeloplasty. It’s an attempt to reconstruct the pelvis, remove obstructions, and ensure that urine flows freely. And for those of us in the operating room, it was quite clear that the obstructions had been removed; urine started to flow very smoothly. So it’s a new day in our country,” he said.

However, he urged the Federal Government to support the training of medical professionals in robotic surgery, and said that local workforce development was critical to sustain the increasing adoption of the technology in the country.

Dada said government support through sponsorships and scholarships will enable more surgeons, nurses, biomedical engineers and other specialists to acquire the skills necessary to perform and support robotic procedures in Nigeria.

He said, “Often, equipment is not a challenge; the challenge now is human resources. We have a lot of people in the private sector, organizations that are able to bridge that gap in terms of procuring robots.”

Dada added, “The government needs to support and sponsor Nigerians – surgeons, nurses, biomedical engineers – who want to undertake training by giving them scholarships so that in the next year or two or three, we will have many professionals who can do this.”

Also speaking, the robotic surgeon who led the procedure, Prof. Obi Davies-Ekwenna, said that this achievement could help Nigeria bridge geographical barriers to expand access to complex procedures across the country.

Davies-Ekwenna said this remote surgery demonstrated the game-changing nature of technology in delivering precision healthcare in Nigeria.

“We can operate on patients in Abuja, which is 500 kilometers away. We can operate on patients who have kidney tumors, cancer tumors. And it works.

“This means access to experts from home and abroad. Telesurgery can be performed from any part of the world with precision, and excellent results,” said the robotic surgeon.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the RHV Board, Dr Kunle Onokoya, said that with robotic surgery, many procedures that were considered inoperable were now being successfully performed.

“Types of surgery that were previously inoperable, meaning the risk of surgery was too great, are now performed with robot-assisted surgery,” he said.