By Editor
It looked like a scene from a Hollywood medical drama. But this was real. As journalists watched from Redeemer’s Health Village Hospital in Lagos, a team of Nigerian surgeons remotely operated on a patient lying on an operating table at Nisa Premier Hospital in Abuja, about 500 kilometres away.
The robotic instruments responded to commands from the surgical team in Lagos, allowing the doctors to perform a complex operation without being physically present in the same theatre as the patient.
Redeemer’s Health Village Hospital, in collaboration with Nisa Premier Hospital and with technical support from RoboMed Global, described the procedure as the first tele-robotic surgery in West Africa.
For the journalists who witnessed the procedure live, it was an extraordinary demonstration of how technology is changing the delivery of specialist healthcare in Nigeria.
Reacting to the feat, the Chief Executive Officer of Redeemer’s Health Village Hospital, (RHV), Dr Adedamola Dada described the development as “a new day for our country.”
“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 U.S. and operate on that patient here,” Dada said.
According to him, the technology could eventually allow specialist surgeons anywhere in the world to remotely operate on patients in Nigeria, provided the necessary infrastructure, expertise and safety systems are available.
Two patients, one landmark
Two Nigerian patients benefited from the procedures carried out Saturday, totaling 5 robotic surgeries done by the hospital in the last one week.
The first was a 28-year-old woman who underwent robotic-assisted surgery for a congenital obstruction affecting her kidney. The second patient, treated remotely in Abuja, had a kidney tumour and became part of the hospital’s first tele-surgical procedure.
The Robotic Surgeon from RoboMed Global Inc., a US-based company and a Professor of Urology and Transplantation, Obi Davies-Ekwenna, said the two procedures demonstrated both the capabilities of robotic surgery and the potential of remote surgery.
“The first case we did was a robotic procedure to correct an inborn obstruction of the kidney. The second procedure we did was a tele-surgery procedure where we were able to operate on a patient in Abuja, 500 kilometres away.”
He said the tele-surgery was successfully completed and demonstrated that the technology could be safely deployed across the distance separating the two hospitals.
Kidney saved
The 28-year-old patient had been living with a congenital obstruction in the urinary drainage system of her kidney.
Dada explained that the condition had existed from birth and had progressively affected the kidney.
The operation performed was a pyeloplasty, a procedure designed to reconstruct the renal pelvis and remove the obstruction so that urine can flow normally from the kidney.
Dada said the patient had reached a point where intervention was necessary to prevent further kidney damage. “For those of us who were in the theatre, it was pretty obvious immediately that the obstruction was removed. The urine started flowing very freely,” he said.
The reconstruction itself took approximately one to one-and-a-half hours, while the entire process, including preparation and positioning of the robotic equipment, took about two hours.
Dada said the significance of the procedure was not simply its speed but the precision with which it was performed. “The most important thing is the quality of the work that has been done,” he said.
According to him, the patient experienced minimal blood loss and was expected to return home shortly after the procedure. He said the benefits included precision, reduced blood loss, earlier discharge and the possibility of a faster return to normal activities.
According to Dada, the hospitals used Starlink connectivity during the telesurgery, with MTN serving as a backup.
He acknowledged that connectivity and weather could pose challenges, making redundancy and reliable infrastructure important to the future of remote surgery.
Robot does not replace surgeon
Also, speaking, the Chairman of the Board of Redeemer’s Health Village Hospital, Dr Kunle Onokoya,said the development represented a major evolution in surgical practice.
An orthopaedic surgeon, Onokoya recalled that during his training in the 1980s, some major surgical procedures could keep patients in hospital for about 10 days, with bleeding and infection among the major concerns. “Fast forward to today, the patient is going to go home today, worst case tomorrow. Bleeding is minimal,” he said.
He stressed, however, that robotic surgery does not eliminate the role of the surgeon.
“The robot is still being controlled by a human being, by a very, very experienced and senior surgeon,” Onokoya said.
He compared the technology to an aircraft’s autopilot, explaining that the machine can execute movements with a level of precision that enhances the surgeon’s skills.
“It is just that the skills of that surgeon are now being magnified many times over by the robot,” he said.
Beyond Lagos and Abuja
For Davies-Ekwenna, the wider significance of telesurgery is its potential to overcome geographical barriers.
He said patients should not necessarily have to travel to Lagos, Abuja, the United Kingdom or the United States to gain access to specialist surgical expertise.
“Telesurgery can be done from any part of the world with precision, with excellent results,” he said.
He described the initiative as largely Nigerian-led, noting that Nigerian surgeons, nurses and engineers were involved, with assistance from international collaborators.
“Patients in Nigeria, regardless of where they live, regardless of how much they have, we believe can have access to the best surgical care in the world here in Nigeria done by Nigerians,” Davies-Ekwenna.
Challenge to medical tourism
Dada said the development could also help reduce Nigeria’s dependence on overseas medical treatment for some complex procedures.
He estimated that a comparable procedure performed in the United Kingdom or United States could cost between $70,000 and $80,000, while saying the Nigerian patient treated at the hospital paid less than 10 per cent of that amount.
He acknowledged that the cost varies according to the procedure but said prices could fall further as the number of procedures increases and medical consumables are purchased in larger volumes.
The economic argument, he said, goes beyond the cost of surgery.
Patients travelling abroad often have to source foreign exchange, pay for flights and accommodation and travel with relatives or caregivers.
“All of that is completely eliminated,” Dada said.
He described the initiative as public information rather than advertising, arguing that Nigerians need to know that such facilities and expertise are increasingly available locally.
“You cannot wink in the dark. If this is happening and the information is not out there, then people don’t benefit.”
Training the next generation
The doctors acknowledge that the success of robotic surgery in Nigeria will depend on developing a pool of specialists capable of using the technology.
RHV plans to establish a robotic academy to train surgeons, operating-theatre nurses, biomedical engineers and other specialists.
Davies-Ekwenna said the programme aims to train at least 150 surgeons within two years.
“There are a lot of surgeons that need to be trained,” he said.
Dada called on the government to support the training of Nigerian medical professionals through scholarships and other programmes.
He said the objective was to ensure that robotic surgical expertise would eventually be available in more parts of the country.
More than a machine
The medical team said the programme involved more than the surgeons visible during the procedures.
Davies-Ekwenna described it as a team effort involving the hospitals, nurses, engineers, technical specialists, the robot manufacturer and other collaborators.
“Probably the entire hospital has been involved in this,” he said, estimating that more than 50 people had participated in the broader effort.
You are part of history
For the journalists who watched the procedure unfold live, the experience was more than a routine medical briefing. Onokoya told them they had become witnesses to a significant moment in the evolution of surgery in Nigeria.
“I want the media to see that you and each one of you are a part of history. You are part and parcel of that history.”
The significance was visible on the screens before them: a patient in Abuja, surgeons in Lagos and a robotic system connecting the two. There was no need for the patient to board a plane. No need for the surgeon to travel to Abuja. The technology brought the two together.
For Dada and his colleagues, however, the telesurgery is only the beginning. The next phase is to train more surgeons, expand the technology and make advanced robotic-assisted surgery available to more Nigerians. “This is just the beginning,” Davis-Ekwenna said.
