North-East India Conquering New Frontiers with the Versius Robot

In my journey as a small-town doctor from a remote Northeastern part of India, away from the megacities, I have always held the desire to see that the people of my state live a healthy life and get the best of medical treatment. This went on to become my life’s mission after completion of my medical education and specialised courses. I had understood earlier in my career that technology is now all pervading and healthcare is no exception. We have to owe it to technology to make surgical intervention efficient, precise, quick and neat. As such, I took the initiative to introduce advanced laparoscopic surgery, ERCP, NBI, Spyglass Cholangioscopy, Endoscopic Thyroidectomy, Bariatric surgery, VAAFT and Robotic Surgery for the first time in the North-east. As past Chairman of Association of Surgeons of Assam and President of Indian Association of Gastro intestinal Endo Surgeons, I got enthusiastic support to further the latest techniques in surgery by my fraternity. Since then, there has been no looking back. My leadership roles in different medical forums and institutions and my teaching experience as Professor of Surgery at Gauhati Medical College and Honorary visiting Professor of Surgical Gastroenterology of GSL Medical College has enabled me to take on greater responsibility for expanding the reach of these treatments to rest of the sister states of the region and the country.

Here I must mention that I could pursue my passion with single-minded dedication largely because of my wife Prof Dr Swagata Khanna, an ENT Surgeon, both sons Dr Angshuman, an Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr Ayushman, a Critical-care Specialist and daughterin- law Dr Chaitra, a Colorectal Surgeon, all of whom are doctors by profession, and have wholeheartedly supported me through every challenge and cheered my success. With this accomplishment, I strongly feel that the Versius Robot is here to stay and the way I felt about not doing any conventional surgery when a laparoscopic set was there in my OR even for so called smaller operations like appendix, now I feel that gradually it may be absurd to do MIS without a robot when you have a Versius in your OR. Today, life has become an emergency drill for medicos that are working 24×7 to fight the COVID-19 pandemic armed with PPE kit and determination to save lives. However, this has come at a heavy personal cost for the doctors also. My life, as a veteran doctor, has also seen several changes once the pandemic hit. But my desire to do something for my people and my life’s mission to get the best of technology and treatment for them overshadows all such ordeals. Finally, if I put into simple words my opinion for deploying Robotic Surgery, I shall reiterate that the Versius Robot delivers to a patient the experience of being operated on by a senior surgeon, through the hands of a young surgeon.

(By Prof. Dr. Subhash Khanna MS, FRCS Edn, FICS, FIAGES, FALS Chief Medical Director and Head Department of Minimal Access, Gastro Intestinal and Robotic Surgery, Swagat Super Speciality Surgical Institute Email : profsubhashkhanna@gmail.com)

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