India's first robot-assisted surgery at AIIMS.......

NEW DELHI: The country's first robot- assisted urological surgery was conducted on Monday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here.

The operation was carried out by Dr P N Dogra, Professor and Head, Department of Urology, on a 50-year-old woman who was suffering from cancer of urethra and urinary bladder last week.

The surgery called the 'Anterior Pelvic Exenteration' involved removal of the urinary bladder, uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, anterior vaginal wall, urethra and pelvic lymph nodes of the patient, the hospital said in a statement today.

This kind of surgery was done for the first time in the country by the Department of Urology at AIIMS, it said.

AIIMS officials said that the hospital has initiated a drive to maximise the use of Robot so that maximum number of patients can be benefited.

Facilities and programmes are being developed to do the advance robotic surgery on prostate, urinary bladder and kidney besides other robotic operations to offer state-of-the art surgical technology to patients suffering from various urological diseases.

Robotic surgery at AIIMS is being done on a regular basis and now its use has been extended in a wide spectrum of diseases in the field of Urology and other specialities.

The officials said that the department of Urology is developing a training programme in robotic surgery, including the virtual simulation system for imparting this skill to future robotic surgeons.