More than 800 procedures have been performed with the three surgical robots at Royal Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals.
The second phase of a fundraising campaign for advanced surgical tools at Greater Victoria hospitals is complete, after 4,700 donors helped raise $21 million.
The Victoria Hospitals Foundation said Wednesday that the goal was reached this summer, following its launch last October.
The fundraising effort, the second phase of the foundation’s It’s Time campaign, is funding robotic surgical systems at Royal Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals. The first phase raised $17 million.
As a result, there are now two da Vinci surgical robots and a Mazor X neurosurgical robot in the hospitals, and more than 800 procedures across seven specialties have been performed.
Gynecologic oncologist Dr. Mona Mazgani said close to 60 of those procedures belong to her specialty.
“We were able to help many women for whom otherwise surgery might not be an option,” Mazgani said in an interview, adding that the precision of the da Vinci robot makes it possible to operate on patients with difficult anatomy or a higher body-mass index.
The surgeon said patients have expressed to her how meaningful it is that women’s health was at the forefront of the fundraising campaign.
“It was such a big jump forward, and it has just created this positive energy,” she said.
Mazgani said the smaller scars produced by surgical robots heal faster than large incisions used in traditional surgeries.
One patient, who had parts of her bowel, uterus, bladder and vagina removed and reconstructed, told doctors just one day after surgery that she felt good enough to go home.
Mazgani said it took speaking to the plastic surgeon involved with the procedure to convince the woman that she had to stay in the hospital because she’d received major surgery.
A procedure like that would normally require up to two months in hospital, she said.
Dr. Jeff McCracken, chief urologist and head of robotics for the two hospitals, said the ability to execute complicated surgeries that require specialists from more than one discipline is unique to Victoria.
He said robotic tools are normally earmarked for one or two specialties, so having robots active in so many surgical disciplines makes comprehensive and complicated surgeries possible.
McCracken said the program has helped recruit new surgeons who specialize in robotic procedures.
“It’s a huge game-changer,” he said in an interview. “There are so many layers of benefit.”
A reduced recovery time means shorter hospital stays and frees up beds for new patients, McCracken said.
One father of young children who had prostate surgery performed by a robot was up and walking the same day.
“The nurses came up to me and said: ‘If you don’t send this guy home, we’re going to put him to work,’ ” he said with a laugh.
“The impact on the patients is so huge.”
Royal Jubilee received the first da Vinci robot in February 2025, followed by a second da Vinci and a Mazor X neurosurgical robot at Victoria General in March of this year.
The two phases of the campaign funded more than 100 surgical and oncological technologies, with many already working in the 30 operating rooms between both hospitals.
McCracken said many of those help with visualization, like 4K high-resolution cameras to help find tumours, and tools that track lymphatic drainage.
One tool helps surgeons localize and mark breast tumours so patients don’t have to endure wires or radioactive tracking tools, he said.
Foundation CEO Avery Brohman said the campaign has “fundamentally changed the trajectory of surgical care on Vancouver Island.”
“Today, we celebrate the impact of collective leadership that will be felt by our Island patients and families for generations to come,” she said in a statement.
Brohman said it used to be assumed that advanced innovations in health care would only happen in Canada’s largest cities, but the strength of the campaign has proved that wrong.
The foundation said it is already preparing to reveal the third and final chapter of the “It’s Time” campaign.