Trinidad upgrades its robotics service

Trinidad and Tobago may soon see the waiting time for surgical procedures reduced, thanks to the introduction of robotics.

Four robotic-assisted surgeries were done at the Port of Spain General Hospital in September using the Freehand Panorama CoBot (a robotic surgical assistant).

A group of six surgeons did a series of three “co-ordinated, keyhole surgeries” with the assistance of a surgical robot. One of the surgeons and lecturer in surgery UWI, Dr Yardesh Singh, gave a demonstration of the robotic assistant at a press conference.

One of the problems medical professionals faced during the pandemic was that resources were stretched, as these were moved away from all other hospital services, said Prof Shamir Cawich of Port of Spain General Hospital. The robotics will allow more patients to get much-needed operations and it will allow the teams to operate in much more trimmed and efficient fashion and will also aid in the development of medical tourism in TT and the region, he added.