Curry Cabral Hospital to have the first SNS surgical robot

The Hospital Curry Cabral, in Lisbon, will receive the first surgical robot from the National Health Service, hospital administration announced today.

According to the president of the Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central (CHLC), Ana Escoval, the first robot for surgeries in the SNS was donated by the Aga Khan Foundation.

Portugal already has several surgical robots in private units, but the SNS did not have any, as Ana Escoval recalled.

“In defence of the sick, we all have an obligation to find ways to also equip the NHS … Anyone, poor or rich, in our country who needs or is better treated with robotic surgery, the being for not having the financial resources, ” the CHLC administrator told reporters, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the interventional radiology unit at Curry Cabral and a tribute to the surgeon Eduardo Barroso.

Surgical robots are already used in various specialities as surrogates for the surgeon’s hand, allowing for more prediction and less invasive surgeries.

The first SNS robot will be in Curry Cabral, where it will be installed during the first half of the year.

According to the administration of the hospital, there is an internal working group to evaluate which specialities or diseases should primarily benefit from the surgical robot.

The equipment, donated by the Aga Khan Foundation, will cost between three and four and a half million euros, according to CHLC management.