Robotic Surgery Training in India

New Delhi: Highlighting the lack of proper training for robotic surgery in the country, the India Chapter of the Clinical Robotic Surgery Association (CRSA) recently submitted a representation urging the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) to include robotic surgery in the medical curriculum through the National Medical Commission (NMC).

Commenting on the matter, the President of CRSA, Vivek Bindal pointed out that there is currently no training curriculum for robotic surgery in India. He said, "We are looking to provide a guideline document to the Health Ministry to make robotic surgery a part of training for resident doctors and MCh (higher degree in surgical sciences) candidates."

The popularity of Robotic Surgery is increasing in India because of its precision and minimal pain score when compared to Open Surgery and Laparoscopy.

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Referring to this, CRSA President Bindal told Business Standard, "Robotic-assisted surgeries (RAS) have many benefits for patients such as early discharge, short hospital stay, fewer painkillers, fewer antibiotics, fewer complications, and less ICU stay."

"RAS has come up in a big way in specialties such as gynaecology, oncology, and gastrointestinal surgeries. However, to make this technology available for all eligible patients, more surgeons need to get trained in robotic-assisted surgery," he added.

Meanwhile, the senior consultant and Head of the Department (HoD) of Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, Randeep Wadhawan also highlighted the need for developing training pathways for such surgeries.

He said that despite the increase in the number of robotic surgeries in India, the number of surgeons who can do such operations, compared to the number of population, is still much lesser.

"Currently, RAS training is given at certain centers of excellence, supported by private entities. There are 35 such centers as of today, which train surgeons in several specialties," he added.

The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) runs two-year fellowship programmes for minimum access surgeries to doctors after completion of their postgraduate degree course. Currently, robotic surgeons tend to opt for a fellowship course followed by clinical practice.

"During the advent of robotic surgery, this was acceptable. However, as robotic surgery continues to develop, it is imperative that robust training and credentialing systems are in place to ensure that patient safety and surgical outcomes are not compromised," Wadhawan mentioned.

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