KEM Hospital gets state-of-art laparoscopic system as donation

Mumbai: The KEM Hospital received the latest state-of-art laparoscopy system which is unavailable in the best of the city’s corporate hospitals. It came as a gift from a 76-year-old Santacruz-based philanthropist, Rohit Mehta.

Mehta, a businessman, who had earlier donated medical instruments/machines to KEM hospital’s various departments like cardiology, ophthalmology, ENT and nephrology, said, “This latest system, the Elite Viscera Laparoscopic system by Olympus will help doctors in treating patients more efficiently. I have been working closely with the hospital for the last 7 to 8 years and have seen the dedication and hard work of the doctors and the patient workload.”

This technology is first-of-its-kind and designed to meet the needs of multiple specialities like general surgery, urology, gynaecology and ENT.

KEM hospital’s gastrointestinal surgery department performs on average more than 400 laparoscopic surgeries in a year which involve colorectal malignancy cases, liver resection for malignancy of the liver, upper gastrointestinal malignancy, achalasia cardia surgery, splenectomy for haematological disorders etc. Mehta said a trust working with KEM hospital had gotten in touch with him for the requirement. “Once the doctors told me about the requirement, we got in touch with the company and negotiated,” he said. While a corporate hospital in Hyderabad has commissioned the same laparoscopic system, KEM Hospital becomes the first public hospital to do so in the country.

Dr Chetan Kantharia, head of the gastroenterology department said the ultra-advanced laparoscopic system donated by Mehta will help reduce chances of error and complications to almost zero.

“It will enable us to perform complex supra-major surgery with ease and safety and decrease the overall surgery time. Overall, because of the generous donation, we will provide the latest technology at no cost to poor patients,” he said.

Dr Kantharia added that the system helps differentiate organs and fat. “Surgery related to the large intestine, liver, pancreas, spleen etc can be done with ease. When it comes to precision, it will be double what we are using now,” he said.