Cape Town - Health and Wellness MEC Nomafrench Mbombo has said the estimated backlog of elective surgeries affected by Covid-19 has been reduced by 70% since June last year, thanks in part to the use of robotic surgery.
The Western Cape’s backlog of elective surgeries stands at 20 849, down from the 77 000 operations that needed to take place in June last year.
Mbombo said the backlogs were severely impacted during the pandemic, but the additional focus and interventions the department had taken had brought better outcomes and resulted in many more operations being performed.
Mbombo was responding to questions from health standing committee chairperson Gerrit Pretorius (DA) who wanted to know how many robotic surgeries had taken place at Tygerberg and Groote Schuur hospitals using the department’s Da Vinci XI surgical robotic programme.
He also wanted to know whether the machines had helped to reduce the surgical backlog, how much faster they were, and whether recovery time was quicker when the machines were used.
The Da Vinci robotic system uses advanced technologies such as 3D cameras to allow a single human operator to perform complex procedures with the utmost precision and with minimal impact to the patient.
Mbombo said the Da Vinci Xi surgical systems had participated in 260 surgeries at Tygerberg and Groote Schuur Hospitals and had lessened the burden on the Western Cape’s health professionals.
She said the inclusion of robotics into the department’s services had resulted in a three- to five-day reduction of hospitalisation time for many patients.
Mbombo said not only had the use of the robotic systems been beneficial for patients, who suffered less pain and fewer possibilities of complications, but it had also freed up beds in provincial hospitals, allowing more patients to be treated.
Pretorius said: “Over the coming weeks, I will work with the department to investigate the viability of expanding this project to more hospitals across the province.”