A Ho Chi Minh City-based hospital has become the first of its kind in Vietnam to offer robotic surgeries for adult patients with the state-of-the-art robotic surgical equipment da Vinci Surgical System.
A Ho Chi Minh City-based hospital has become the first of its kind in Vietnam to offer robotic surgeries for adult patients with the state-of-the-art robotic surgical equipment da Vinci Surgical System.
Binh Dan Hospital has put the robotic surgical system, made by the American Company Intuitive Surgical, to use since November, and is now the only clinic to offer robot-assisted surgeries for adult patients.
Earlier in 2014, a robotic surgical platform was deployed for kid patients at the Vietnam National Hospital of Pediatrics in Hanoi.
Robot-assisted surgery has been around since the end of 1980, especially in modern hospitals in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and South Korea, but it was not popular until decades later when technology progressed.
With the advances of technology, modern robotic surgical systems have become extremely precise and can facilitate complex surgeries such as prostatectomy, cardiac valve repair, and gynecologic surgical procedures.
Useful but expensive
Realizing the need for a better surgical equipment, the Ho Chi Minh City administration has agreed to earmark a handsome amount of VND71 billion (US$3.14 million) on equipping Binh Dan Hospital with the da Vinci platform.
According to Dr. Tran Vinh Hung, head of Binh Dan Hospital, there are many advantages of robot-assisted surgery, such as the equipment can help the surgeons reach to the most remote and smallest areas of the patient’s body.
Also, doctors can control all the surgical procedures through the console with superb visualization and great precision, making the operational session less stressful and tiresome for the surgeons.
Currently, there are six experienced Vietnamese surgeons chosen by Binh Dan Hospital for training to operate the da Vinci Surgical System. The intensive and comprehensive training is guided by foreign experts.
Despite many advantages, an operation assisted by robot can be extremely costly, ranging from VND85 million (US$3,750) to VND100 million ($4,200), according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.
“For people with medical insurance, they will have 30 to 40 percent of the total cost covered,” said Luu Thi Thanh Huyen, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance Agency.
With the new technology in hand, Binh Dan Hospital hopes that Vietnamese patients no longer need to travel overseas for complicated surgical procedure, reducing their treatment cost and bringing social benefits to the country.
(Source: TTNews)
