A Scottish Muslim doctor has made a historic achievement by leading efforts to introduce surgical robots, a successful move which will reduce waiting times and enhance patients’ care.
Dr. Shafaque Shaikh MBBS FRCS PhD is a Scottish Muslim doctor and consultant in colorectal and general surgery.
Working at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Dr. Shaikh unveiled two da Vinci robots and a Mako robotic-arm assisted surgery system.
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“On average, patients should have shorter hospital stays following robotic-assisted surgery, quicker recovery times, they need less pain control and less anesthetic – all of these factors benefit individual patients,” she told NHS Grampian.
“More widely it benefits everyone in the region, as with people in hospital less time, it increases our capacity and allows us to see more patients.
“This investment, in cutting-edge technology, really ensures we can give our patients the best experience and that myself and my fellow surgeons have the most modern tools available to do our job. It also equips us to partner with the University of Aberdeen to develop ground-breaking research, further improving patient care in the future,” she added.
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Huge Investment
The new robots are part of a £3.5m investment at NHS Grampian, which oversees the care of more than 500,000 people living in Moray and Aberdeenshire.
Feedback collated by surgeons has been overwhelmingly positive, with shorter recovery times and a better quality of healing subsequent to procedures.
“Surgeons have been using our first da Vinci robot for the last six years and in that time we’ve really seen a benefit for our patients …,” Consultant urological surgeon Justine Royle noted.
“Since becoming the first territorial board to start using these machines we have really seen the advantages and have striven to place ourselves as a center of excellence within Scotland with this technology. It’s all an investment in the future of our patients and NHS Grampian.”
Most Muslims in Scotland are members of families that migrated in the latter decades of the 20th century.
According to the 2011 census, Muslims population is around 76,737 persons, almost 1.4% of Scotland’s population.
Muslims in Scotland are an ethnically diverse population. Although a majority of Muslims are of Pakistani (58%) origin, 16.8% are Africans and Middle Eastern, while 7.8% are White Europeans.