New Delhi: Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Center, New Delhi (RGCI) have installed the first-ever Made-in-India Surgical Robotic System, SSI-Mantra, devised by the new-age Indian med-tech start-up SS Innovations. The ingenious SSI Mantra, a brainchild of World-renowned robotic cardiac surgeon Dr. Sudhir P Srivastava, will be signifying the beginning of a new era of surgical procedures in India, making robotic surgery accessible and affordable for the people of our country.
After two pilot projects where Dr. Sudhir Rawal and his team from RGCI successfully performed a total of 26 surgeries with the SSI Mantra, thereby validating safety, feasibility, and effectiveness, the robot is now ready to provide an advanced method of surgery, which will be accessible to the general public at a much lower cost.
On this momentous occasion Dr. Sudhir Rawal, Medical Director, RGCI said “I have used the SSI Mantra System on many of my patients. In its present form, the performance is quite good, and I could use the System for many very complex operations. Many more patients in India and around the world will benefit from this technology based on quality and cost-effectiveness.”
SS Innovations has made the nation proud, being the first company in South Asia to launch this epoch- making machine SSI Mantra, a technologically advanced surgical robotic system that has more and better features and applications than existing Surgical Robotic Systems and is much less expensive. This machine will revolutionize the idea of surgery practices in our homeland and around the world in terms of precision, technical advancement, and cost reduction, making expensive robotic surgery available for the common people.
Dr. Sudhir P Srivastava, Founder, Chairman & CEO, SS Innovations, popularly known as The Robo Doctor, on this occasion said, “Based on the benefits I have seen in Robotic Surgery patients and observing very poor availability of Surgical Robotic Systems in India and many other developing economies, I made it my mission to develop a new Surgical Robotic System that would offer better and more advanced technology features, applicable in most specialties including Cardiac Surgery and be cost-effective. We at SSI were able to achieve this vision with the help of some very talented engineers from India and highly experienced global scientists.”
Apart from Dr. Sudhir P Srivastava and Dr. Sudhir K Rawal (Medical Director, RGCI), Dr. Somashekhar S P (Chairman & HOD Surgical Oncology, Manipal Comprehensive Cancer Care Center) and Dr. Arun Prasad (Bariatric and Robotic Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals) was also a part of this prestigious occasion to brief and interact with the media.
This cutting-edge SSI Mantra is modular, flexible, and versatile in comparison to leading global surgical systems, which dominated the surgical robotics market with a monopoly to date. What makes SSI Mantra even more promising for the future is that it was developed in only under five years, which would have been further accelerated if it were not for delays caused by the pandemic! Last but not the least, the commonage of the country will have cheaper access to better surgical procedures from this day on.