HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, June 11: The Governor of Assam, Gulab Chand Kataria, unveiled the inaugural edition of the ‘International Journal of Advanced Robotic and Innovative Surgery’, the official journal of the Association of Robotic and Innovative Surgeons (ARIS), in a splendid ceremony held on the Sunday at a hotel in Guwahati.
Last year, in April 2022, a momentous occasion took place with the establishment of the first Robotic Surgeons Association of India and South East Asia in Guwahati. Within a short span of one year, the association has successfully trained over 80 surgeons and formed an affiliation with the Sri Ramachandra Institute of Health and Educational Research in Chennai.
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Among the esteemed guests present at the event were Dr Ashok Puranik, executive director of AIIMS, Guwahati, and Prof PK Iyer, officiating director of IIT, Guwahati.
In his address, Prof Subhash Khanna, the founding president of ARIS and chief editor of the Journal, discussed the challenges of establishing a robotic system in small towns and the global struggle to access this remarkable technology for both clinical use and learning purposes over the past two decades. He also highlighted the birth of the Association of Robotic and Innovative Surgeons as the first independent Asian association dedicated to the advancement of Robotic Surgery. He emphasised their commitment to pushing the boundaries of medical innovation and ensuring that the surgical community receives the most advanced surgical models, comprehensive training, and support systems.
Governor of Assam, Gulab Chand Kataria, extended his congratulations to the editorial board for the launch of the first journal on Robotics. He emphasised that no technique or procedure is considered complete unless the work and its clinical outcomes are published in peer-reviewed journals. He expressed his desire for the technology to be accessible to the masses. Dr Ashok Puranik, executive director of AIIMS, Guwahati, and Prof PK Iyer, officiating director of IIT, Guwahati, also expressed their delight at this development and suggested that ARIS should collaborate with research scientists from IIT, NIPER, and AIIMS to promote innovative work.
The meeting was graced by Prof USN Murty, the director of the National Institute of Pharmacological Education and Research, and Prof Ramesh Chandra Deka, the vice chancellor of Cotton University, along with numerous other dignitaries, including past presidents of the Assam Surgeons Association.
Dr Belal Bin Asaf, the robotic thoracic surgeon and sectional editor of the thoracic section, attended the program, while all overseas editorial board members joined virtually.
The Journal’s editorial board consists of robotic surgeons from various specialties worldwide. The Journal will be an open access journal and will be released quarterly starting next year, as announced by deputy editor Dr Raj Palaniappan of Apollo Hospital, Chennai.
Dr Palaniappan stated that the Journal will publish articles covering different domains of robotics, including patent studies (technometrics) and web-based studies (webometrics). It will also feature articles that apply science-technology-innovation indicators to gain insights into country/regional/sectoral research, innovation, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. The Journal will encourage articles on contemporary topics such as open science, new tools and techniques, including novel approaches for information retrieval, metrics, and emerging forms of publications.
