This unprecedented procedure was performed at the Cardeal Dom Alexandre do Nascimento Hospital Complex and has made this hospital unit and the country part of the "history of African medicine".
"The Cardeal Dom Alexandre do Nascimento Hospital Complex (CHDCP) and Angola have made history in African medicine with the unprecedented performance of transcontinental robotic telesurgery. For the first time on the continent, a surgery was performed remotely, over 17,000 kilometres away, from Orlando, United States of America", reports the CHDCP, in a statement to which VerAngola had access.
The operation, performed on a patient over 60 years old, was led by Dr. Vipul Patel and lasted approximately an hour and a half.
"The procedure performed was a radical prostatectomy on a 67-year-old patient diagnosed with prostate cancer", reads the note.
In addition to Patel's command, "on the Angolan side, in the central operating room of the CHDCP, there was a multidisciplinary team comprising surgeons, anesthetists, nurses, engineers and Dr. Marcos Moschovas, a member of Dr. Patel's team".
The Minister of Health, Sílvia Lutucuta, who followed the operation in real time, highlighted the historic importance of this achievement.
"Our professionals are to be congratulated. Never before has surgery been performed at such a distance. This demonstrates the commitment of the Executive (...) to the social sector, particularly health. This is the result of the investment in connectivity and technological development that Angola has seen in recent years", she said, quoted in the statement.
"Today we had the robot controlled from Orlando, by the surgeon Dr. Patel, while the local team at the CHDCP performed the support procedures. This is a notable advance. The learning curve of our professionals is very fast, and that fills us with pride", she added.
"Today is a remarkable day in the history of medicine in Angola. Technology has overcome distances, difficulties and differences to save lives. Angola has undoubtedly written a chapter today that will be remembered by this and future generations", said Marcos Moschovas, a doctor who was present in the operating room.
Carlos Alberto Masseca, director-general of the CHDCP, said that it was a "historic day".
"This is a historic day. We thank the President of the Republic, the Minister of Health and Dr. Patel's team for their trust. This achievement reinforces our commitment to the development of medicine in the country. This hospital is a reflection of Angolans' dream of having quality and excellent healthcare", he said.
According to the medical team, the "patient is stable and recovering post-operatively, under specialist monitoring in the recovery room", the statement also states.
In addition to the Minister of Health, the intervention was also monitored in real time by the Secretary of State for Public Health, Carlos Alberto Pinto de Sousa, by the Director General of the CHDCP, Carlos Alberto Masseca, as well as "members of the hospital's management, health professionals and other guests, gathered in the meeting room of the Sterilization Center".
The CHDCP also recalls that it has "performed three previous telesurgeries, two during the second phase of the surgery campaign, and the third in the following phase, which took place in June, when the surgeon operated from the Training Center and the patient was in the central block of the hospital".
However, the note adds, this fourth telesurgery "marks an unprecedented milestone: it was the first time that the command of the surgery was done from America, with the patient in Angola — establishing a new standard in digital and robotic medicine in Africa".
