Saint Mary’s Hospital, a 347-bed Connecticut-based Catholic teaching hospital, plans to add a new tool to its program – robotic surgery.
The hospital’s board of directors reportedly
approved the purchase of the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System. According to news reports, the hospital will lease the $2.4-million robot and make payments for it over 48 months.
Robotic surgery gives patients the advantages of minimally invasive surgery, which includes shorter hospital stays, less pain, less scarring and a faster recovery. The technology can be applied to urologic, gynecologic and general surgery procedures, hospital officials said.
“Saint Mary’s Hospital has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to minimally invasive surgical options and robotic surgery is a natural progression of that,” Chad Wable, president and CEO of Saint Mary’s Health System said in a statement. “Through our acquisition of the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System, we are building upon our foundation as the leading provider of surgical services in Greater Waterbury.”
The robotic surgery program won’t be the first for the state. Other Connecticut hospitals reportedly use da Vinci Surgical Systems, but Saint Mary’s and others have no access to the technology.
Dr. S. Mark Albini, one of the hospital board members, praised the da Vinci system.
“It’s difficult to not get excited about this technology for a surgeon,” he said.
Next month, the hospital will hold its annual gala event to help raise money for surgical services. There will also be a special appeal to support the new robotic surgery program, hospital officials said. The gala is the largest fund-raising event for Saint Mary’s Hospital, and attracts more than 750 people.
Amy Tierney is a Web editor for HealthTechZone, covering business communications Her areas of focus include conferencing, SIP, Fax over IP, unified communications and telepresence. Amy also writes about education and healthcare technology, overseeing production of e-Newsletters on those topics as well as communications solutions and UC. To read more of Amy's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Amy Tierney
