1st robotic kidney transplant at govt facility performed at Safdarjung Hospital

India’s first robotic kidney transplant surgery at a government facility involving a 39-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukabad has been performed at New Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital. The man was on dialysis and awaiting the transplant for years. His 34-year-old wife donated the kidney. Both the recipient and donor were recovering well after the surgery on Wednesday.

Anup Kumar, who lead the surgery, said it involved a keyhole procedure as opposed to a 10-12 cm long incision that increases the risk of infection, hernia, and other complications. “It helps in operating upon complicated cases. This is the first such surgery in a government hospital in the country, and in the private sector also only about four hospitals are operating robotically,” said Kumar.

Kumar called the surgery a milestone in the history of Safdarjung Hospital. “Robotic renal transplant is the most technically challenging surgery in urology. It requires excellent expertise in robotics as well as renal transplant surgery. However, not all patients are suitable for undergoing minimally invasive surgery, and we will be selecting patients on case to case basis.”

Such surgeries reduce the recovery time from weeks to days even as an escalated cost could run up to ₹100,000 for consumables used. “Since it is on case to case basis, there is always a possibility of getting a waiver if a patient is not able to bear the cost,” said Kumar.