A humane way to heal, thanks to a robot

December 1, 2022

Strap or blurb: Robotic Kidney Transplant ends family’s ordeal spanning years

In a way, Sarvesh would have known that a crisis was in the making. Years of a touring job, a sedentary lifestyle and eating the wrong food at the wrong time took a toll on his body, eventually making health problems and hard decisions inevitable. Advised a kidney transplant, he tried to stall what appeared to be a formidable line of treatment.

Two years of turmoil

“I endured two years of dialysis before going for a robotic kidney transplant. It was very painful and the long hours made it even more so. I used to go at 4am and the exercise took 4 hours,” he said.

What complicated matters further was the fact that he had cardiac issues. Waiting to meet the doctor who saw him out of the mess, he recalled, “Two to three years ago my keratine levels shot up and that affected the heart.”

Things have come a long way now. His ordeal has ended, thanks to the intervention of Dr Priyadarshi Ranjan, one of the top 10 kidney transplant surgeons in the world.

Maintaining a stoic front despite the years of pain and turmoil he just left behind, Sarvesh betrayed emotion with a hint of a smile at the mention of Dr Ranjan.

“He examined me with care and explained the problem as well as the solution very minutely, leaving no doubts. It was due to him that I got over my fear of kidney transplant. After the robotic kidney transplant, I discovered that there was nothing to fear anyway. I am back on my feet and am set to travel to Jalandhar after meeting him,” he said.

A caregiver’s dilemma

Sarvesh’s wife Meenakshi Sharma, who donated her kidney to her husband, underlined the poignant situation of caregivers in the family.

“We have been through a lot but it started in a simple manner. He had a sense of nausea while eating. Someone suggested a homeopath in Delhi and we took the advice. He was on homeopathy for two years but we had to discontinue the course during the Covid lockdown. Afterwards, his condition deteriorated and he had to go for dialysis,” she said.

If dialysis was difficult for Sarvesh, it was even more so for his wife. “Watching him was tough. There were these needles and associated conditions that cropped up like fistula, it made things terribly hard to bear,” she said.

The good doctor

The years of suffering, hope mingled with despair culminated in the meeting with Dr Priyadarshi Ranjan.

a matter of hours. There is no major incision as no major muscle is cut, which leaves patients back on their feet the next day.

Technique with compassion

With his characteristically warm smile, Dr Priyadarshi Ranjan uses empathy with cutting edge technology to turn patients’ lives around.

“The robotic kidney transplant technique uses flexible robotic arms which have much more scope of movement than human fingers, affording a quick and clean procedure that heals faster. Limited hospital stay and faster recovery also minimizes the economic and physical toll of the procedure,” he explains.

Working tirelessly to give the best possible treatment to his patients, Dr Ranjan feels fatigue melt away when he sees them walking around happily the next day, almost incredulous at how good and recovered they feel so soon after the procedure.

“Although I explain to them that they will be up and about in no time, they get surprised to feel healthy and active the very next day and the expression of surprise and happiness on their faces gives me immense pleasure,” he says.

recalled, “Two to three years ago my keratine levels shot up and that affected the heart.”

Things have come a long way now. His ordeal has ended, thanks to the intervention of Dr Priyadarshi Ranjan, one of the top 10 kidney transplant surgeons in the world.

Maintaining a stoic front despite the years of pain and turmoil he just left behind, Sarvesh betrayed emotion with a hint of a smile at the mention of Dr Ranjan.

“He examined me with care and explained the problem as well as the solution very minutely, leaving no doubts. It was due to him that I got over my fear of kidney transplant. After the robotic kidney transplant, I discovered that there was nothing to fear anyway. I am back on my feet and am set to travel to Jalandhar after meeting him,” he said.

A caregiver’s dilemma

Sarvesh’s wife Meenakshi Sharma, who donated her kidney to her husband,

“What makes him a good doctor is not merely his clinical prowess, though there is no doubting that, but the warmth and compassion that he approaches his patients with. He is a truly capable doctor and a good human being. Despite his extremely busy schedule, he would listen patiently to us, addressing all our concerns, leaving nothing for granted. When he told us about the robotic kidney transplant, we let go of all fears. We had finally found the one thing that would restore normalcy, health and happiness in our lives,” she said.

Robotic Kidney Transplant; a SMART way to heal

The Scarless Magnified Advanced Robotic Kidney Transplant or SMART is aptly named, considering that it is a line of treatment that does away with any kind of pain and discomfort a patient may feel while speeding up the healing process dramatically.

In fact, the patient has little to show for such a major procedure, looking and feeling recovered in

Ironically, it is a robot that makes such humane treatment possible. “A robot enables me to give my best to my patients in terms of precision while minimizing the surgical trauma to their body to have them recover uneventfully,” said Dr Ranjan.