Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery: First Report from the Caribbean

Abstract

Although advanced minimally invasive surgery and robotic surgery were well accepted in developed countries by the turn of the 21st century, they did not enjoy the same popularity in the Anglophone Caribbean. Advanced minimally invasive surgery only became available in select Caribbean countries from the year 2010. And up to the year 2021, robotic surgery was completely non-existent in the Anglophone Caribbean. Surgical leaders in the Anglophone Caribbean recognized a need to encourage the introduction of advanced surgical techniques in the region and engaged local and international stakeholders in an attempt to stimulate this development. In the year 2021, through a collaborative effort by a local medical university, a government-funded hospital, and industry partners in the United Kingdom, robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery was successfully introduced to the Caribbean. We report our experience of introducing robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery in the Eastern Caribbean. By discussing the pitfalls and successes from our experience, we hope that the lessons can be used to guide the introduction of robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery in other resource-poor countries in the Caribbean.​.