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| Robotic systems are becoming more common in Indian hospitals, but formal training has not kept pace with their growing use. This blog covers the current state of robotic surgery in India, findings from a recent survey of Indian doctors, who may benefit from specialization, and the pathway to gaining console experience. It also explains training costs, credentialing requirements, and key questions doctors should ask before enrolling in a course. |
A surgeon who finishes training today will probably meet a robotic console at some point, whether they plan for it or not. Robotic Surgery in India started in a few metro hospitals, and it has since spread to tier 2 cities, to government medical colleges and to a growing number of mid-sized private centres. Case numbers have risen sharply over the past five years, which is why the question comes up so often among residents and young consultants. Most of them want a straight answer. Is the technology too costly and too concentrated to build a working life around, or is it a sensible direction for a surgeon starting out in 2026?
Surgical training guidelines and the available clinical data point towards a surgeon with a solid base in open and laparoscopic work and some realistic access to a robotic programme. Anyone weighing a Robotic Surgery Career in India should also know that the order of steps matters more than the speed.
Intuitive, the maker of the da Vinci system, reports more than 180 of its systems installed in India and over 950 surgeons trained on them. Those are company figures for one manufacturer, so the national procedure count says more about direction.
Data presented at the Society of Robotic Surgery India meeting in 2026 put robotic-assisted procedures at 8,912 in 2021 and 44,857 in 2025, close to a five-fold rise in four years.
The case mix is shifting as well. In Delhi-NCR, which has the densest concentration of systems, benign general surgery made up about a third of robotic cases in 2025, urology 30.2%, gynaecology 22.1% and malignant general surgery 10%.
The price of the systems themselves is changing too. SSI Mantra, an Indian-made system cleared by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for telesurgery in late 2024, is reported to cost well below imported platforms. That matters most to smaller hospitals, since the price of a system has to be weighed against the number of cases they can realistically offer.
A 2026 survey of Indian doctors, run by a surgery department in North Maharashtra and published in Bioinformation, shows how clinicians themselves see the technology. The opinions reflected in the survey are those of respondents who were recruited through social media, and about half of them were physicians, not surgeons. The findings therefore represent the views of this group and not national data.
One of the questions asked in the survey was whether India is ready for robotic surgery to replace conventional operations. Of the respondents, 28.9% said yes, 32.2% said no and 38.9% were unsure. Even so, 51.1% expected wider use within five to ten years, against 12.5% who did not.
The cost of the robotic system came up repeatedly. About 68% named high cost as a drawback, and 72.2% cited it as a barrier to wider adoption. When asked how wider use could be encouraged, 60.6% pointed to investment in training and education, and when asked what would drive adoption, 26.9% named certificate courses, fellowships and superspecialty courses.
Among the doctors in the survey, age also made a difference in one respect. Of the doctors under 36, 57.7% thought robotics would replace laparoscopy, compared with 25.6% of those aged 46 to 55.
Read Also: Fellowship in Urology: Complete Guide After MBBS, MD & MS General Surgery
The demand side for robotic surgery looks reasonable. More systems are being installed, and each one needs surgeons who are credentialed to use it; however, the supply side is thin. The survey suggests most doctors have little exposure, and a 2022 review in the Journal of Minimal Access Surgery noted that India had no dedicated robotic training curriculum at that point. A trained and credentialed surgeon is not competing with a crowd.
On the salary of doctors working with robotic surgery, it should be understood that there is no standard published scale for Robotic Surgeon Salary in India. Income depends on specialty, type of hospital, city, and patient cases handled by the doctor. Robotic training usually helps through case volume and referrals.
Access to a robotic system is also a factor to consider. A robotic skill adds value only when the hospital owns a system, lets the doctor operate on it, and has enough cases in the specialty to keep the doctor in regular practice. For instance, a surgeon in a centre where the robot is used twice a week will progress slowly, while one in a busy urology or gynaecology unit will progress faster.
Experts from the Clinical Robotic Surgery Association have said a surgeon should complete roughly 60 to 70 hours of simulator work, dry lab practice, case observation and mentorship before operating on a patient. This comes after the surgeon has received a recognised postgraduate surgical qualification. In addition, hospitals have their own rules on which doctors are approved to perform robotic procedures.
This is why Robotic Surgery Specialization After MBBS is better understood as a sequence than as a single course. An MBBS graduate on this path should plan for the surgical postgraduate degree first, through an MS, DNB or DrNB seat, and treat robotic exposure as something added once the base is built. In practical terms the stages look like this:
Because Robotic Surgery Training in India has no single national curriculum, the hospital’s own set of rules carries a lot of weight. It is sensible to ask what its credentialing policy requires before you spend time or money elsewhere.
Robotic training is offered in several formats, including short courses, observerships and hospital-based programmes. The content and the supervised clinical exposure differ from one programme to another, so it helps to compare them on the same points.
Some hospitals and private institutions run their own robotic programmes, and many Robotic Surgery Courses in India also describe hands-on training as a component.
Before enrolling in any course, it is essential to know certain details about the programme, such as:
A Robotic Surgery Fellowship in India can be a useful next step for surgeons who already hold a postgraduate qualification and wish to build a career in robotic surgery, provided the programme can answer the questions above.
MediCOLL Learning offers fellowship and certificate courses for doctors who want to upskill in their own specialty. For an MBBS graduate in the years before gaining a postgraduate degree, structured clinical learning of this kind is a sensible way to build the foundation that further specialization will later rest on.
The cost of Robotic Surgery in India is the barrier most doctors name, and it reaches trainees in two ways.
Moving from laparoscopy to the console takes time. The basic skills carry over, but most current systems give the surgeon little or no tactile feedback, and camera control and the docking routine have to be learned separately.
Early cases are best chosen with care, usually simpler procedures in well-selected patients. Indian-made platforms may bring the purchase price down for smaller centres, and if they do, more hospitals could offer training.
A surgeon weighing a Robotic Surgery Career in India in 2026 should consider what the skill can add and what needs to be in place first.
Robotic platforms offer three-dimensional vision, wristed instruments with a wider range of movement, and scaling of the surgeon’s hand movements into finer motions at the instrument tip, which can make delicate work in confined spaces more manageable.
Robotic systems are reported to reduce surgeon fatigue, and 11.2% of doctors in the 2026 Bioinformation survey chose better ergonomics as the most important benefit of robotic surgery.
Hospitals installing systems need credentialed surgeons, and trained surgeons remain few, which can strengthen a surgeon’s standing within the department.
Telesurgery and teleproctoring are now being tried on Indian-made platforms, and surgeons with robotic training are best placed to take part.
Robotic training builds on an MS, DNB or DrNB qualification, so an MBBS graduate needs that seat before anything else.
Regular console time in the surgeon’s specialty matters as much as the course, so the hospital’s robotic programme needs checking early.
Simulation, observed cases and proctored procedures are the usual route, and each hospital sets its own approval rules.
MediCOLL Learning offers fellowship and certificate courses for doctors who want to upskill in their own specialty, which suits the years before a postgraduate seat.
Specializing is worth it in 2026 for a surgeon who meets the first three points in the second list. However, doctors who wish to pursue robotic surgery need an educational foundation first, and fellowships and certificate courses in their own specialty can help build it. Doctors can look at MediCOLL’s current programmes on our website to see which one fits their next step.
No. Robotic surgery is performed by surgeons who have completed postgraduate surgical training. An MBBS graduate should first secure an MS, DNB or DrNB seat in a surgical branch and add robotic training later.
In Delhi-NCR data for 2025, urology, gynaecology and general surgery accounted for most robotic cases. Surgical oncology, cardiothoracic and head and neck surgery use the platforms in selected centres, so the spread of Robotic Surgery in India across specialties is still uneven.
Yes, Certificate courses and fellowships help a doctor gain clinical experience in a chosen specialty, which adds value to the doctor’s practice and gives a base for further specialization in that field.
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