Hospital celebrates 'exponential growth' in robotic-assisted surgeries
Dr. Dennis Serrano, president and CEO of St. Luke's Medical Center, tells The Manila Times that the exponential growth in robotic-assisted procedures over the last 15 years reflects both the hospital’s pioneering spirit and the increasing trust of patients in minimally invasive surgery. St. Luke’s Medical Center celebrated its success in conducting over 2500 robotic-assisted surgeries—the most in the Philippines -- on Oct. 2, 2025.
VIDEO BY ALLEN LIMOS
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00:00Today's celebration is what is a celebration. It's a celebration of achievement, it's a celebration of commitment, it's a celebration of vision, and it's a celebration of leadership.
00:14We're celebrating the achievement of St. Luke's surgeons who've done 2,500 robotic surgeries in the past 15 years.
00:23It's a feat that no other hospital in the Philippines has achieved. It's also a celebration of our commitment to pushing the boundaries of technological advances in surgery towards minimally invasive surgery.
00:39It's also a celebration of our patients, patients who in the very beginning when this technology was very new and trusted their care to us and has achieved the outcomes that we want them to achieve.
00:51And finally, it's a celebration of the vision of St. Luke's in giving unparalleled patient care that's guided by excellence and innovation.
01:01And innovation is the key, really is the key word for tonight.
01:06We've pivoted and we've leveraged technological innovation, particularly robotic surgery, into an example of bringing world-class care to our patients.
01:19Sir, so since St. Luke's has been the home of many firsts in terms of robotic surgeries, in 2010, it was the first to acquire the DaVinci-C robotic surgery.
01:30Tapos in 2019, you crossed the first 1,000 robotic surgery mark.
01:34I mean, in about 6 years lang, nasa 2,500 na.
01:38What does this mean about, kasi sobrang pilis nung ano ito, it was so rapid.
01:43So, the adoption of technology, the development, the honing of the skills, and the acceptance of patients is exponential.
01:51You will see that we've celebrated our first 1,000 patients after, what, almost 10 years of doing that.
01:58But when patients started seeing the advantages of robotic surgery, when doctors started believing that this is really better for my patients, there were greater adoptions.
02:07Whereas, when we started in 2010, we had a handful, we had exactly 10 surgeons who trained in 5 different specialties.
02:16And these were only the 10 surgeons who were pushing this, who were pushing this technology.
02:20But slowly, over that decade, we were able to convince everyone that this is the future of surgery.
02:28And that this is the way to offer better care to our patients.
02:33That's why we're seeing an exponential increase in the number of cases.
02:40Case in point is, you know, we recently acquired a new robot for Quezon City, for St. Louis Quezon City, and that was a little over a year ago.
02:50But the numbers of Quezon City have encompassed more than the first five years of the initial robot acquisition in Global City.
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