I Feel fulfilled Performing first Robotic Surgery in Imo – Ekwueme

Imo State, on Friday, performed first robotic surgery on a patient said to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

A United Kingdom-based Consultant Robotic and Laparoscopic Surgeon, Professor Kingsley Ekwueme, has said he felt fulfilled performing the first robotic surgery in his native state, Imo.

Ekwueme spoke when he led the team that carried out the surgery at the Imo State Robotic and Oncology Centre, Owerri, weekend.

Speaking to journalists, after the operation, Ekwueme noted that the project is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the state government.

The lead surgeon who had a team from the United Kingdom, said there was no cut, blood loss and nerves damage during the surgery, owing to the use of the robot.

He stated that the robot is installed with artificial intelligence and can magnify tissues 10 times bigger, with safety checks, which he said guarantees precision.

“Over the couple of years, we started to develop robotic surgery in West Africa. Initially, we developed one in Lagos, but with the intervention of Governor Hope Uzodimma, he invited me to come to Imo State to partner him to develop robotic centre.

“He has a vision to transform the health sector of Imo State, and when I arrived at the state, I saw his vision. You can see the transformation that is happening here.

“Next door will be the Oncology and Treatment Centre where we have state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities that will treat all forms of cancer. It doesn’t exist anywhere in the world because you don’t usually have state-of-the-art robotic and oncology centre next to a physiotherapist. So, you have it all in one place here.

“I just finished operating on a man who is unfortunate to be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Without this centre, he  would have to travel to go do it elsewhere. There was no blood loss, all his nerves have been preserved. So, it means, if he goes home, he will have erection and will continue to be a husband to his wife. His wife is very young. He will have control of his urine, and there is no wearing of pampers.

“As he is waking up, he will eat pounded yam and ofe Owerri, he will go home tomorrow. So, this is the kind of fascinating transformation that is possible with the robot. And this robot installed here is the first of its kind with artificial intelligence. The robot can talk. It’s a very special day for me.

“I feel emotional because, you can do this anywhere in the world but to come back and do it for your people, it’s what I don’t take for granted.

“With robot, the vision is magnified ten times. So when you see a tiny gray of sand, it will be like you are seeing a rock. It means that you will be able to identify any tissue and removal only the things you are meant to remove, and no damage to surrounding structures”, he submitted.

Ekwueme pointed out that the robot is capable of doing what the bare hands of a human surgeon cannot do, with optimum speed and precision.

He noted that the United Kingdom has since stopped manual surgery and opted for robotic surgery.

The consultant surgeon maintained that the robot can perform accurately the number of surgeries a surgeon cannot carry out through cuts.

According to the consultant, there are safety checks in the robot to ensure that both the system and the human do not make mistakes.

“The robot has seven degrees of freedom, same with human beings. So, it means that if I rotate my hand 360 degrees, the robot will rotate 360 degrees. Human surgeons cannot perform this task the way they do open surgery when they cut the body, because the hand is limited. So with robot, you have precision. The robot is so precise that when you change instrument, it will stop at the exact place the previous instrument stopped. Robot memorises it and doesn’t change.

“Inside the robot, we have what we call simulation. So, I can take you to the robot, place you on task, when I come back, the robot will tell me how you performed the function.

“We have to be very careful when we talk about robot. Within the surgical robots, we have different types coming up. There is one gold standard robot in the world – that is da Vinci Robot. More than three million systems have been installed worldwide and over 20 million surgeries have been performed with it.

“In fact, in UK, we don’t teach open surgery anymore. There is no surgeon graduating in UK today who knows how to do open surgery. It’s been completely abandoned.

“In this advanced da Vinci system we have here, with artificial intelligence, there are multiple safety checks that ensure you can’t make mistakes. So, it is safe and precise”, Ekwueme stated.

In his speech, the state governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, said the initiative was part of his administration’s deliberate investment in modern healthcare infrastructure, specialist services and medical technology.

The governor said the partnership was designed not only to facilitate the use of the technology but also to expose local medical personnel to advanced surgical techniques.

He stated that the state government was committed to reducing the financial and emotional burden associated with seeking medical care outside Imo.

On access to care, Uzodimma said the government was working through the Imo State Health Insurance Scheme to ensure that residents could benefit from quality healthcare without being overwhelmed by the cost of treatment.

The governor commended Professor Ekwueme, the management and staff of the Imo Robotic and oncology Centre for the success of the project.