Professor Dr. Sucandy Speaks at University of Udayana Medical School on Robotic Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery

As one of the largest tourist destinations in the World, Bali Indonesia has been known to be visitor friendly, safe, warm, and culturally rich city. The number of visitors in 2024 entering Bali were estimated to be 16.4 millions, while the native population of Bali were only about 4 millions. As the hub of tourism and services, Bali also comes with strong healthcare delivery, high-quality hospitals, and strong academic teaching programs at the University of Udayana.  The teaching hospital of University of Udayana, Prof. Dr Ngoerah Hospital,  is a major tertiary facility with 780 bed capacity offering complex treatment of digestive diseases. Hundreds of general practitioners and general surgeons are trained at this academic program annually.

As the current development of robotic technology hits the eastern hemisphere, Bali is also now exposed to minimally invasive surgery, mainly laparoscopic method. Many international hospitals in Bali are offering minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery for obesity, gallbladder disorders and colorectal tumors.  In the summer of 2025, Prof. Dr. Sucandy was invited by Dr I Made Mulyawan, the Chief of Surgery Department at Udayana University to give a Grandround lecture on application of robotic surgery in complex hepatopancreatobiliary diseases.

The groundrounds lecture was preceeded by the National Anthem of Indonesia and opening remarks by the Dean of Udayana University School of Medicine.  This is a start of future academic affiliation as the University is preparing to open its fellowship training curriculum in Digestive Surgery (Sp2- Digestive Surgery fellowship training).  An interactive discussion was held about the technique of biliary stone removal/exploration and various surgical methods of ductal closure to minimize postoperative bile leak and potentially later biliary duct narrowing/stricture.  Dr. I Made Mulyawan is leading this educational initiative, which will position Udayana University in Bali as the 7^th Digestive training center in Indonesia. Of note, Dr. Mulyawan received his advanced surgical training in upper gastrointestinal surgery from Kawasaki University Medical School in Japan.  As the digestive surgery fellowship program is being formed, senior surgeons are being recruited to be member of faculty to strengthen this new subspecialty training program.