The Government of Guyana announced a series of medical breakthroughs at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation on Tuesday, headlined by a world-record 20,000-kilometer cardiac telesurgery. President Irfaan Ali revealed the achievements during his second press conference of the week following a six-month hiatus from formal press briefings. The state-backed initiative marks the first integration of robotics and telemedicine in Guyana.
The milestone surgery began at 6:00 AM on Tuesday when cardiac surgeon Dr. Sudhir Srivastava sat at a console in Georgetown and remotely performed a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft on a patient located in India. Operating via fiber-optic cables using the SSI Mantra 3 robotic surgical system, the operation officially stands as the longest-distance telesurgery ever conducted in the world. The procedure was supported onsite in India by a medical team consisting of Dr. Lalit Malik and Dr. Mohit Bhandari.
Following the telesurgery, the focus shifted to local capacity building as a Guyanese medical team achieved a major regional first. Dr. Hemraj Ramcharran, supported by Dr. Bibi Hussain and Dr. Jagnanand Ramnarine, successfully performed a local robotic inguinal hernia repair on-site. With this successful operation, Dr. Ramcharran became the first Guyanese surgeon to perform robotic surgery in Guyana and the wider English-speaking Caribbean, capitalizing on specialized robotic training the team previously received in India.
The marathon day of medical firsts concluded with an advanced onsite cardiac procedure at the city hospital. Dr. Srivastava utilized the robotic infrastructure to perform a local robotic Atrial Septal Defect repair on a Guyanese patient. The operation corrected a congenital heart condition involving an abnormal opening in the muscular wall separating the heart’s upper chambers, showcasing the immediate local benefits of high-precision, minimally invasive technology.
According to the official government statement, these achievements highlight a leap forward in international medical collaboration, technological innovation, and local professional capacity building.
