SSI MANTRA: Made-In-India Robotic Surgery System

Robotic surgery is the type of surgical procedure that is done using robotic systems. Robotically-assisted surgery was developed to try to overcome the limitations of pre-existing minimally-invasive surgical procedures and to enhance the capabilities of surgeons performing open surgery. Surgeries using a robotic system have been conducted in India for over a decade. Government hospitals of national repute, as well as many private hospitals, have installed Da Vinci surgical systems. 



MANTRA means Multi Arm Novel Tele Robotic Assistance and the company making it is, SS Innovations. ‘SS’ is Sudhir Srivastava, India-born cardiac surgeon, who went to Vancouver, Canada at the age of 21, with a medical degree from a Rajasthan-based medical college, specialized in thoracic surgery at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Robotic surgery in most of the hospitals of the World is currently carried out with the use of the da Vinci™ surgical system, a unique set of technologies that include specialized “arms” for holding instruments and a camera, as well as a magnified 3D screen and a console.

With Mantra Robot 18 successful surgeries have been conducted, and the cost is likely to be one-fourth of a leading global competitor. To operate using the Mantra Robotic system, the surgeon makes tiny incisions in the body and inserts miniaturized 8mm instruments and a high-definition three-dimensional camera. Then, from a nearby console, the surgeon manipulates those instruments to perform the operation.