India's first Centre for Excellence in Robotics opened in Kochi

Asia-Pacific's first Centre for Excellence in Robotics in medical sector was formally opened by Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy on Monday.

The Centre set up at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre at Kochi (Kerala) is equipped for robotic assistance in neurosurgeries - such as epilepsy, Parkinson, brain tumours, haemorrhagic strokes, endoscopic surgery of the brain - urology, gynecology and gastrointestinal surgeries.

Inaugurating the Centre, Chandy said, the facilities at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences at par with any hospital in the world obviate the necessity to go abroad for advanced treatments.

"Robotic surgical assistants help specialists accomplish all surgical tasks with precision and accuracy," said Dr. Prem Nair, Medical Director of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre. He said, Amrita Hospital will provide these world-class treatments at no additional cost to the patients.

Kerala Minister for Fisheries, Ports and Excise K. Babu, MLA Hebby Eden and Swami Purnamritananda Puri of Amritanandamayi Mutt were also present on the occasion.

Amrita Hospital is credited with carrying out the first successful double hand transplant in South Asia, first successful treatment for acute blood cancer (myeloid leukaemia) in the country through a relatively new treatment protocol named 'Microtransplant' and third successful pancreas-kidney transplant in India.

It is one of the few hospitals in the country, which has the facility for diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects and epilepsy. The Amrita Advanced Centre for Epilepsy is the first center in India to establish Stereo-EEG - a minimally invasive technique for accurately recording and studying seizures from the brain to plan curative surgery.

India's first holistic healthcare project for medical education and research, integrating Ayurveda and Yoga with modern medicine is also coming up at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences.