Head of the Western Cape Department of Health, Dr Keith Cloete, says the new robot-assisted surgeries at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town will pave the way for the development of more ground-breaking services in the public health care sector in the province.
Tygerberg is the first hospital in the public sector in South Africa to perform robot-assisted surgery.
Three operations have already been performed.
The Department has invested close to R40 million on each of the robots it purchased for the surgeries. One is for Tygerberg and the other for Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
Cloete addressed a media briefing at Tygerberg Hospital following one of the operations: “When we had to make that decision, I remember the colleagues saying, ‘we are making a decision, not for now, we are making a decision for the system we want to see in the future’. So when we took it, we took, committed the resources and as you say, the rest is history,” says Cloete.
VIDEO: The Groote Schuur Hospital launches first robotic surgery
