The Association of Gynecological Robotic Surgeons (AGRS), which is hosting the Conference, and the first exclusive conference on gynecological robotic surgeries being held in India, RoboGynIndia 2022, were formally inaugurated by the chief guest, Her Excellency Hon'ble Dr (Smt.) Tamilisai Soundararajan, governor of Telangana, today at the Sheraton Hyderabad Hotel. Dr. Rooma Sinha, organizing chairperson, Founder President, AGRS, Chief Gynecologist & Minimal Access Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad; Dr. Anshumala Shukla Kulkarni, Organizing Secretary, Founder Secretary, AGRS; and Guest of Honor Dr. K. Hari Prasad, President, Apollo Group - Hospitals; Special Invitee Prof. Mahendra Bhandari, Padma Shri Awardee & CEO, Vatti The Conference is being attended by more than 150 delegates from all around India, South Asia, and internationally. Vattikuti Foundation and Apollo Hospitals are the academic partners for this prestigious Conference.

On August 13 and 14, 2022, a conference with the title "Gynaecological Robotic Surgery - Innovations & Surgical Revolution" will take place. Endoscopic surgeons have a rare chance to speak with renowned international and Indian faculty members and learn how to employ therapeutically relevant robotic technology for gynecology-related surgery.

Dr. (Smt.) Tamilisai Soundararajan spoke at the event and remarked, "My presence here and the opening of this Conference are to commend Dr. Rooma Sinha for her exceptional services." It's difficult to introduce new technology; I think back to when we first started using ultrasound and foetal therapy 40 years ago. At that time, interventional ultrasound had not yet been developed, so when we proposed using ultrasound to perform some procedures, there was opposition, and we had to go around and try to persuade people. In this manner, I might speculate on the opposition Dr. Rooma would have encountered when introducing this novel technology. In our country, it is anticipated that any new technology launched must be patient-oriented, even if there are benefits. Especially today with the access to information patients have, it becomes even more difficult to convince the patient.Being a gynecologist, I understand the significance of what Dr. Rooma accomplished, which is impressive given the challenging conditions. Technology now plays a significant part in healthcare, whether it be AI, AR, VR, 3D printing, or robotics. Our Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's Digital Health Mission aims to make healthcare delivery available, affordable, and accessible for everyone, especially the poor who live in hard-to-reach places. Technology has few drawbacks, preserves the aesthetic elements, and makes it possible to creatively solve issues. By interacting with one another at conferences like this one, we can learn from one another's experiences and be inspired to tackle our own difficulties.The robotic surgery will soon be very popular due to the rapid growth of technology and the aspiring medical professionals have to develop their skills in this area. Technology should also make the services economically feasible for all sections of society. Medical services have improved manyfold, my appeal to insurance companies is to include the evolving medical procedures in their list of approved procedures, as they were found to be wanting in approving such latest procedures, which is very disheartening. I request insurance companies to come forward and include all the robotic surgeries and approve them. Even the government insurance schemes should include such latest procedures in the approval list. 

Being a gynecologist, I understand the significance of what Dr. Rooma accomplished, which is impressive given the challenging conditions. Technology now plays a significant part in healthcare, whether it be AI, AR, VR, 3D printing, or robotics. Our Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's Digital Health Mission aims to make healthcare delivery available, affordable, and accessible for everyone, especially the poor who live in hard-to-reach places. Technology has few drawbacks, preserves the aesthetic elements, and makes it possible to creatively solve issues. By interacting with one another at conferences like this one, we can learn from one another's experiences and be inspired to tackle our own difficulties. what you achieved, but also of what you are going to achieve in the future. History is being created by the launch of Association of Gynaecological Robotic Surgeons.

Indian women typically put up with painful periods, heavy menstrual bleeding, fibroids, endometriosis, and other conditions for years in order to avoid upsetting their families. According to Dr. Rooma Sinha, robotic surgery can give these ladies more control by causing less trauma, hospitalization, and blood loss and improving cosmetics. The Association of Gynecological Robotic Surgeons and RoboGynIndia-2022, the country's first unique conference on gynecological robotic procedures, were created solely to free women from painful open surgeries and post-operative trauma. Today no woman should be subjected to an open surgery and minimal access surgery should be available to all. But we are not able to provide that to the women of this country, the reason being, in spite of  minimal access surgery now being available in every hospital including in small towns, but still the skill and infrastructure required for performing complex gynaecology surgeries becomes difficult. The role of robotics here helps general surgeons to develop these skills fast and translate the benefit of minimal access surgeries to the women in our country. This Association was conceived by seven of us and took seven years to form. The Association will proactively train gynaecologists pan India in Robotic surgeries to facilitate this noble objective. Our very own made in India “Mantra” robot will enable greater penetration of robotic surgeries and reach the services to the remotest part of India, says Dr Rooma Sinha. We have very good response to this inaugural meeting.  

Prof. Mahendra Bhandari said, today the robotic gynaecology surgery in India is on an auto mode. When Vattikuti Foundation wanted to bring robotic surgery to India in 2009, there were no takers, DaVinci was untouchable, they didn’t find it worthwhile because of the capital involved and the recurring cost. Three months I went to every sector and addressed them, because the Indian model was not workable only on urology alone and I was looking for some other high volume area and then I decided it wouldn’t be working. But it was the Apollo Hospital which embraced it, when we met the Chairman Dr Prathap C. Reddy, within 15 minutes he took the decision to have six robots and that paved the way for robotic surgery gaining popularity in India.       

The faculty for the RoboGynIndia comprises of four internationally renowned robotic surgeons, like Prof Walter H Gotlieb, Professor of Ob-Gyn & Oncology, McGill University – Montreal, Canada; Dr Krishnanshu S Tewari, Associate Professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology at University of California, Irvine, USA; Dr Gabi Moawad, Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, USA and  Prof Arnold Advincula, Medical Director, Columbia University, New York. The experienced robotic surgeons from India forming the faculty are Dr Rooma Sinha, Dr Anshumala Shukla Kulkarni, Dr Rama Joshi, Dr Anupama Bahadur, Dr Yogesh Kulkarni, Dr S. Chinnababu and Dr Mala Srivastava among others.

A wide spectrum of topics related to Gynaecological Robotic Surgeries are being deliberated at the Conference. Some of the thought provoking topics include the future of robotics in gynaecological surgeries; Artificial Intelligence and its application in gynaecological surgeries; starting a successful gynaecological robotic surgery program; strategies to overcome barriers and how to make robotic surgeries economically feasible; advantage of robotics in treating obese patients; ‘MANTRA’ the India robot; robotic assisted surgeries of complex Hysterectomies, myomectomies, endometriosis, malignant robotic hysterectomy and other complex surgeries. 

In India four robotic platforms “DaVinci”, “Hugo RAS”, “Versius” and “Mantra” are available currently for clinical use and these will help to expedite the penetration of robotic surgeries.

Apollo Hospitals pioneered robotic surgeries in India by introducing DaVinci Robotic surgery system across 4 hospitals, way back in 2012, today the Group is offering Robotic Surgeries across 8 Apollo Hospitals. Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad is acknowledged for pioneering Robotic Gynaecological surgeries in the Country. The Centre has done stupendous work for over a decade under the stewardship of Chief Gynaecologist, Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad; Dr Rooma Sinha. She deservingly holds the distinction of performing the maximum number of robotic surgeries for Gynecological problems in India.