The Scottish Government has pledged £1million to finally bring Scotland’s first robotic-assisted surgical system (RASS) to the north-east.
Health Secretary Alex Neil will visit Aberdeen Royal Infirmary today, where he will announce plans to boost a £2.5million campaign to purchase the innovative equipment and also create two integrated operating theatres to house it.
Cancer charity, UCAN, has been leading the campaign to bring the RASS to Aberdeen, ensuring that patients in the north and north-east have access to the most advanced surgical technology.
The system will revolutionise the way doctors perform invasive surgery, enabling medics to carry out very intricate and precise keyhole surgery on patients to a standard never achieved before.
It mimics a human hand and is controlled remotely by the surgeon, who sits a few feet away and watches greatly magnified 3D high definition video images of the operation on a screen.
The system has numerous benefits over traditional “open” surgery, including faster recovery times, less pain following an operation, less blood loss, shorter hospital stays and speedier operating times.
RASS is particularly beneficial for patients with prostate, bowel, rectal and gynaecological cancers as well as non-malignant conditions requiring surgery.
There are more than 40 systems in England and hundreds throughout Europe and the rest of the world, but none in Scotland.
In April, UCAN announced that it was a step closer to bringing the equipment to ARI after receiving a grant of £400,000 from the NHS Grampian Endowment Fund.
The campaign has also received support from Aberdeen and Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson, a group of Aberdeen businessmen, including hotelier Stewart Spence, and hundreds of people across the country who have been fundraising tirelessly for the cause.
Sam McClinton, consultant urological surgeon at ARI and chairman of UCAN, said the RASS would make a huge difference to patients lives.
“This would be the first equipment of its kind in Scotland and it would help to ensure ARI can continue to provide the very best possible service for the people of the north-east, Orkney and Shetland while setting the benchmark for Scotland,” he said.