In a groundbreaking medical achievement involving India and China, a surgeon successfully performed a surgery on a patient in Hyderabad while seated in Wuhan. On Monday afternoon, a doctor at Tongji Hospital in Hubei province, Wuhan, remotely conducted a robotic surgery on a patient located approximately 3,000 kilometers away.
Successful Bladder Reconnection Surgery
Dr. Syed Mohammed Ghouse, an Indian urologist, performed a bladder reconnection surgery in just 90 minutes using technology developed in China. The procedure required precise coordination among doctors, surgical robots, and network technology, according to the hospital, which is affiliated with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
The Chinese Embassy in India's spokesperson, Yu Jing, highlighted the achievement in a post on X, stating: 'Indian urologist Dr. Syed Mohammed Ghouse, stationed in Wuhan, successfully performed a robot-assisted ureteral reimplantation in just 90 minutes on a patient 3,000 km away in Hyderabad, India -- thanks to China-developed robotics and 5G technology. Life-saving care, transcending borders.'
How the Surgery Was Performed
First, Dr. Ghouse and the local medical team in India reviewed the patient's medical examination data online and devised a surgical plan, including the movement path of a set of robotic arms. Then, doctors and nurses in the operating room administered anesthesia to the patient and inserted the robotic arms into the patient's body. The arms were equipped with fine surgical instruments and high-definition 3D cameras.
Seated at a console in Tongji Hospital, Dr. Ghouse observed real-time, magnified high-definition 3D images transmitted from the operating room through a binocular-style viewer. His hands operated controls similar to an arcade machine, guiding the robotic arms throughout the surgery. The robotic arms replicated the doctor's movements inside the patient's body, with 5G technology transmitting instructions within 200 milliseconds.
Local medical staff remained on standby in the operating room to take over the surgery in case of emergencies.
Part of a Larger Medical Conference
This operation was one of 26 surgeries performed during the 10th Congress of the Chinese Chapter of the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association. Among them, five surgeries were connected live with foreign counterparts. Surgical experts from Brazil, Georgia, Greece, Uzbekistan, and India delivered remote surgical demonstrations covering hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, urology, and other fields.
Dr. Chen Xiaoping, director of the surgery department at Tongji Hospital and one of the initiators of this innovative model, stated that a new technological revolution driven by AI, 5G and 6G communications, and robot technology is deeply integrating with the healthcare industry.
