The latest robotic surgery machine at Sindh Government Qatar Hospital, Orangi Town, Karachi, is lying idle since last two years due to a shortage of funds, it was learned on Sunday.
Pakistan’s first advanced robotic surgery machine was installed at operation theatre of Sindh Government Qatar Hospital in 2011. Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan had inaugurated the latest robotic machine in October 2011. The costly machine was lying idle in the hospital since 2014, as hospital administration is unable to run advanced facility due to a shortage of funds.
An official of Qatar Hospital, Orangi Town, told the news agency that some of the major advantages of robotic surgery are precision, miniaturisation, smaller incisions, decreased blood loss, less pain, and quicker healing time. The hospital administration had performed 70 successful surgeries from 2011 to 2014, but later surgeries through robotic machine had been halted due to unavailability of funds.
The hospital management had sent several requests to high-ups of Sindh government’s health department for the release of funds to run the robotic machine on a prominent basis, but no positive response was received from authorities concerned. He said the cost of a surgery is Rs 30,000 and the administration was unable to run the machine owing to shortage of funds.
Sindh Government Qatar Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Syed Khalid Masood, while talking to the news agency, said robotic surgery machine had been purchased in 2011 with a cost of Rs 290 million, but the surgery machine was non-functional since the last two years due to a shortage of funds.
He informed that a summary has been moved to the health department of government of Sindh for the release of funds for maintenance of surgery machine in order to run it on a regular basis.