Dr. David Samadi: people are willing to travel to get the best clinical outcome
Dr. David Samadi has performed over 8,000 surgeries during his career, and if there is something he has fully understand after decades of experience is that patients are open to travel abroad to countries that offer the best clinical outcome.
He was invited to speak at the 5th International Health and Wellness Tourism Congress in Santo Domingo, within the framework of the panel Lessons Learned from the Accreditation Process and COVID-19 Safety Standards, moderated by Dr. Alejandro Cambiaso, president of the Dominican Health Tourism Association and host of the event.
After the event, he offered dominican.news an interview to provide more insights about international accreditation and how the robotic center at the Metropolitan Hospital of Santiago (HOMS) brings value to international patients.
“The importance of international accreditation is that you are directly recognized to adhere to quality care. It makes sure that you and your team follow all the best standards. I have had the opportunity to have a relationship with many countries around the world and fully recognized that the center located at HOMS is an accredited program that not only follows the norms but also provides excellent follow-up after the surgeries are done and the patients are home”, said Dr. Samadi.
He affirmed that the Samadi-Homs Robotic Institute is very unique in the entire Dominican Republic because is the only DaVinci robotic program for which people are traveling from all over the world, especially the Caribbean countries, for prostate cancer and other medical conditions.
“We have been quite successful in urinary control, sexual dysfunction, and prostate cancer curate. Hundreds of surgeries have been performed and people are willing to travel to get the best clinical outcome”.
According to Dr. Samadi, their institute has brought positive benefits for medical tourism to the Dominican Republic. “I have done over 8,000 of these surgeries. Many patients don’t want to have open or laparoscopic surgeries anymore. With robotic surgery, you can achieve a better range of motion, better visualization, less blood loss, faster recovery”.
International collaborations
Regarding international collaborations, Dr. David Samadi spoke highly about the country’s context.
“The Dominican Republic is in a very special situation because under the leadership of President Luis Abinader there is a big interest in medical tourism”, he first stated.
Moreover, he emphasized that with the fact that the nation is located in the Caribbean, its proximity to Latin America, and its close relationship with the United States, “we can take advantage of major collaborations at the Saint Francis Hospital, which is part of the Catholic Health Services, with access to many specialist doctors in general surgery, cardiology, robotic surgery, and we can bring the best experts in the world in order to create centers of excellence”.
Dr. Samadi foresees an opportunity to create a Men’s Health department in the Dominican Republic, so men can travel to get a full checkup.
“By collaborating, we can bring the expertise where the patients can benefit from the screening, prevention, surgical options, and many other fields”, he sentenced.
About Dr. David Samadi
He is a world-renown urologist and pioneer of prostate cancer treatment and robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy, also known as RALP, a king of surgery currently used to treat men that are diagnosed with prostate cancer.
In 2014 Dr. Samadi pioneered robotic prostate surgery and opened the Samadi-HOMS Robotic Institute with Dr. Sanchez Español, president of the Metropolitan Hospital of Santiago, in the Dominican Republic.
He is specialized in the diagnoses and treatment of bladder, kidney, and other urological diseases.
Dr. Samadi serves as director of Men’s Health and director of Oncologic Urology at Saint Francis Hospital, located in Roslyn, New York.