A $200,000 centre for minimally invasive surgery opened yesterday at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) to make such treatment more convenient.
The centre includes an $80,000 laboratory where doctors can practise techniques in this kind of surgery, which is done using specialised instruments inserted through two to four small cuts in the patient's body.
Minimally invasive surgery is usually carried out in an operating suite, which needs to be pre-booked, so the patient will need to set aside time to go back for treatment another day.
The new centre allows for some types of minimally invasive surgery that can be carried out without anaesthesia - such as treatment for abnormal bleeding, polyps and small fibroids - to be done on the same day.
The new centre will help KKH cope with the growing number of minimally invasive operations, which are becoming popular because of the shorter recovery time, said Dr Bernard Chern, the centre's head.
For example, 38 per cent of fibroids are now removed by minimally invasive surgery instead of open surgery, up from 7 per cent in 1993.
The lab where doctors can get more hands-on practice of surgery techniques has four sets of simulators. KKH had just one such machine before.
Sixty local and foreign doctors will put the lab to good use tomorrow, the last day of a three-day workshop on minimally invasive surgery.
Surgical equipment maker Tyco Healthcare sponsored the lab, and will also fund the training of doctors from the region to the tune of $150,000 over three years.