First Telerobotic Surgery in SEA
Indonesia continues to achieve big “firsts”. It became the first Southeast Asian country to successfully perform telerobotic surgery on humans, following a showcase on Aug. 30 of a live remote operation for kidney treatment between Jakarta and Bali. Urological surgeon Ponco Birowo performed the procedure to remove a cyst on the patient’s right kidney using a robotic controller at Prof. Dr. IGNG Ngoerah General Hospital in Denpasar, Bali. He was assisted by urological oncologist Agus Rizal Ardy Hariandy Hamid. The patient, a 71-year-old man, was in an operating theater of Cipto Mangunkusumo Central General Hospital (RSCM) in Jakarta; nearly 1,200 kilometers away from Bali. Urologic oncologist Chaidir A. Mochtar and other surgical doctors and nurses helped with the procedure in Jakarta. The surgery used equipment made by Edge Medical Robotics from China. (Jakarta Post)