Robotic surgery in Telangana could expand beyond Hyderabad under a state health department plan to make three to six months of robotic-procedure training mandatory for postgraduate medical students and establish facilities in government hospitals, including nine regional referral centres.
The proposed training programme is intended to create a larger pool of uniformly trained surgeons and reduce the concentration of robotic procedures in a small number of premier institutions in the state. The government will approach the National Medical Commission for permission to introduce the dedicated training period within the existing three-year postgraduate programme.
A pan-state multi-specialty robotic surgery training programme was recently held at the Marri Chenna Reddy Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences in Sanathnagar. TIMS director Dr A Narendra Kumar said surgeons from 35 medical colleges and 47 hospitals, excluding speciality hospitals, were already being trained at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences and MNJ Cancer Institute.
The proposed first phase of robotic surgery facilities includes government medical colleges and hospitals at Sanathnagar, LB Nagar and Alwal, as well as the new Osmania General Hospital, Warangal Super Speciality Hospital, Gandhi Hospital and Niloufer Hospital. The proposal also names nine regional referral centres: RIMS Adilabad and government general hospitals in Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Nalgonda, Sangareddy, Khammam, Warangal, Mahabubnagar and Vikarabad.
Sources cited in the report said an indent had been placed with the Telangana Medical and Industrial Infrastructure Corporation for 15 robotic surgery systems. Three systems are proposed for TIMS, while one each is planned for Osmania General Hospital, Gandhi Hospital, Niloufer Hospital and nine erstwhile district hospitals.
The proposed distribution reflects a hub-and-spoke approach, in which larger institutions could support training and specialised care while regional hospitals provide access closer to patients. Dr Kumar said the aim was to ensure that robotic surgery did not remain limited to a handful of institutions in Hyderabad. The plan, however, is still at the proposal and procurement stage, and the final rollout will depend on approvals, infrastructure readiness and the availability of trained teams.
The expansion also raises operational requirements beyond the purchase of robotic systems. A government doctor cited in the report said successful implementation would require suitable infrastructure, trained faculty, structured protocols, multidisciplinary teams and institutional support. Dr N Vani, director of medical education, said young surgeons should combine exposure to newer technologies with clinical judgement, human touch and compassion.
The public-access argument is particularly relevant for patients from rural and smaller communities. Robotic surgery expert Dr Sudhir Srivastava said decentralising such services could reduce the need for patients to travel to major cities for specialised treatment. At NIMS, nearly 1,000 robotic surgeries had recently been completed, with eligible patients receiving financial coverage under the Rajiv Aarogyasri scheme.
The next formal step is the state government’s proposed approach to the National Medical Commission for approval of the dedicated postgraduate training period. The timing of equipment procurement, hospital-wise commissioning and the start of robotic procedures at the proposed centres has not yet been announced.
