Premier health facility St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) is seeing a growing demand for its robotic cardiac surgery procedures, the first in Southeast Asia, initially done on six patients at its hospital in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

“We’re doing fewer open surgeries. Patients now are very intelligent; they research,” Dr. Ramiro Pablo, head of the Cardiovascular Operating Room at SLMC in Quezon City, told the media on Thursday.

SLMC, which currently operates two hospitals, performed the first robot-assisted surgery on a 40-year-old man who was suffering from severe mitral regurgitation.

Dr. Marvin Martinez, head of SLMC’s Minimally Invasive and Robotic Cardiac Surgery, said all six patients are Filipinos, with one based in Papua New Guinea.

He said the robot may consist of two to three arms inserted into the body through a tiny cut or “fingernail incision.”

“We have a much smaller incision of about 3 to 4 centimeters,” he said.

Using a video scope, Dr. Martinez said the surgeons can see the body parts 10 times clearer and quickly detect bleeding areas that need repair.

With these capabilities, Dr. Pablo said the surgery and recovery can be completed faster and with less pain compared to sternotomy or cutting through the sternum near the collarbones with a scalpel.