Nigeria has recorded what the Redeemer’s Health Village described as the first telerobotic surgery in West Africa, after surgeons remotely operated on a patient located about 500 kilometres away.
The procedure was performed over the weekend by the Redeemer’s Health Village in Mowe, Ogun State, in collaboration with RoboMed Global and Nisa Premier Hospital in Abuja.
The surgery, a right radical nephrectomy, involved surgeons at the Redeemer’s Health Village controlling a surgical robot at the Abuja hospital through an internet connection.
Telerobotic surgery, also known as remote surgery, allows surgeons to perform operations on patients from a different location using robotic technology.
Speaking after the procedure, the Chief Executive Officer of the Redeemer’s Health Village, Dr Adedamola Dada, described the development as a major milestone for Nigeria’s healthcare sector.
“It’s a huge breakthrough, and then of course, it is the first time telesurgery is done in West Africa,” Dada said.
He explained that the robotic system at the Abuja hospital was connected to the control system at the Redeemer’s Health Village, allowing the surgical team in Ogun State to carry out the procedure remotely.
According to him, the technology could eventually make it possible for specialists outside Nigeria to operate on patients in the country, particularly in cases where the required expertise is not readily available locally.
“What this simply means is that for very complicated cases where we don’t even have the manpower in the country, surgeons can stay in the United States and operate on that patient here,” he said.
The health facility also carried out a robotic-assisted pyeloplasty on a 28-year-old patient on the same day.
Dada explained that the procedure involved reconstructing the renal pelvis and removing an obstruction to allow urine to flow normally.
He said the successful outcome demonstrated the potential of robotic technology to improve the treatment of complex medical conditions in Nigeria.
However, Dada called for greater government investment in training medical professionals in robotic surgery, noting that the availability of equipment alone would not be enough to sustain the technology.
He said more Nigerian surgeons, nurses, biomedical engineers and other specialists needed to be trained to operate and support robotic surgical systems.
“Most of the time, the equipment is really not a challenge; the challenge now is the manpower,” he said.
Dada urged the Federal Government to provide scholarships and other forms of support for Nigerians interested in specialised training in robotic surgery.
He said developing a strong pool of local professionals would help ensure that Nigeria could sustain and expand the use of robotic surgery in the coming years.
Also speaking, the robotic surgeon who led the procedure, Prof. Obi Davies-Ekwenna, said the development demonstrated how technology could help overcome geographical barriers to specialised healthcare.
Davies-Ekwenna said the team successfully operated on a patient in Abuja while working from the Redeemer’s Health Village in Ogun State.
“We were able to operate on a patient in Abuja, 500 kilometres away. We were able to operate on a patient with a kidney tumour, a cancer tumour. And so that was successful,” he said.
According to him, the technology could improve access to specialists both within Nigeria and internationally, allowing patients in locations without certain specialists to receive complex procedures remotely.
“It means access to experts from within and outside the country. Telesurgery can be done from any part of the world with precision, with excellent results,” he said.
The Chairman of the Redeemer’s Health Village Board, Dr Kunle Onokoya, said robotic surgery was also expanding the range of procedures that could be performed safely.
He noted that some operations previously considered too risky or difficult to perform could now be carried out with the assistance of robotic technology.
“The kind of surgery that otherwise would have been inoperable, meaning that the risk from surgery was too great, is now being done with robot-assisted surgery,” Onokoya said.
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