Doctor in Guyana, patient in Indore: Indian surgeon's record-breaking heart surgery

In a breakthrough that could transform the future of healthcare, an Indian surgeon has successfully performed a robot-assisted cardiac procedure on a patient in Indore while operating remotely from Guyana, nearly 20,000 kilometres away, setting a new world record for the longest-distance robotic cardiac telesurgery.

The historic procedure connected Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) in Guyana with IRCAD India in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

Renowned robotic cardiac surgeon Dr Sudhir Srivastava remotely carried out a Left Internal Mammary Artery (LIMA) takedown using the India-developed SSI Mantra Surgical Robotic System.

The achievement surpasses the previous record of a robotic cardiac telesurgery conducted between Strasbourg, France, and Indore, India, over a communication distance of 10,000 kilometres. The latest operation effectively doubles that distance, marking a major milestone in the evolution of remote surgery.

For the procedure, Dr. Srivastava operated from Georgetown using the tele-surgeon console, a compact chair-based robotic control system designed for real-time remote operations. The robotic arms and surgical instruments were located in Indore, where they precisely mirrored the surgeon's hand movements despite the vast geographical separation.

The surgery was performed over a fibre-optic network with a latency of 290-300 milliseconds, which means there was a delay of just 0.29 to 0.30 seconds between the surgeon's command in Guyana and the robotic system's response in Indore.

This enabled seamless communication and coordination between the teams in Guyana and India. High-definition 3D visualisation and advanced robotic controls allowed the complex cardiac procedure to be carried out with precision and stability.

The operation was supported in India by Dr Lalit Malik of Manipal Hospitals Jaipur, Dr Ram Shukla of Bhandari Hospital and Research Center, and Dr Mohit Bhandari, President of IRCAD India.

The record-setting surgery coincided with Guyana's Diamond Jubilee celebrations marking the country's 60th Independence anniversary and formed part of the launch of Guyana's National Robotic Surgery Programme. Three robotic procedures were successfully performed on the inaugural day.

Guyana President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali hailed the achievement as a transformative moment for the country's healthcare sector, saying it demonstrated how technology can overcome geographical barriers while positioning Guyana as a leader in advanced medical innovation.