Surgeon in Wuhan performs robotic operation on Hyderabad patient
HYDERABAD: In a medical first, a Hyderabad-based patient underwent a robotic bladder-related surgery while the operating surgeon was nearly 3,900 km away in Wuhan, China.
The procedure, a ureteric reimplantation, was performed on May 18 by Dr Syed Mohammed Ghouse, consultant urologist at the Asian Institute of Nephrology and Urology (AINU), Hyderabad. Dr Ghouse conducted the surgery remotely from Tongji Hospital in Wuhan using a robotic surgical system linked through a high-speed 5G network.
According to the medical teams involved, the operation is the world’s first tele-robotic ureteric reimplantation performed across international borders.
Surgery linked hospitals in India and China
Before the procedure, doctors at AINU and Tongji Hospital jointly reviewed the patient’s imaging scans, surgical plan and robotic setup through a live digital connection.
At AINU, the patient was administered anaesthesia and connected to the Toumai robotic surgical system developed by Chinese medical technology company Medbot. The system’s robotic arms, fitted with miniature surgical instruments and high-definition 3D cameras, were inserted through small incisions.
From a control console in Wuhan, Dr Ghouse viewed a live three-dimensional feed from the Hyderabad operating theatre and controlled the robotic instruments in real time.
“What stood out most was the experience. It truly felt as though I was operating in my own operating room,” Dr Ghouse said.
“The precision, responsiveness, and seamless integration made the entire procedure incredibly smooth,” he added.
Low latency enabled real-time response
Doctors said the success of the surgery depended heavily on ultra-low network latency. Commands generated by the surgeon’s hand movements in Wuhan were transmitted to the robotic system in Hyderabad within milliseconds.
The medical team reported an average one-way latency of 63 milliseconds during the operation. By comparison, a human blink typically takes between 150 and 400 milliseconds.
A local surgical and anaesthesia team remained in the operating theatre throughout the procedure to monitor the patient and provide immediate intervention if required.
Significance for future surgery
Ureteric reimplantation is performed to reconnect the ureter to the bladder, often to treat injuries, blockages or urinary reflux. While robotic-assisted surgeries have become increasingly common, doctors said this was the first time such a procedure had been conducted remotely across countries.
“Hard to believe that what once seemed like the wildest imagination is now a clinical reality,” Dr Ghouse said.
“The future of surgery is not just minimally invasive, it is borderless,” he added.
The surgery was demonstrated during the 10th Congress of the Chinese Chapter of the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association in Wuhan. A total of 26 surgeries were showcased during the event, including five remote international procedures involving surgeons and hospitals in India, Brazil, Greece, Georgia and Uzbekistan.
Chen Xiaoping, director of surgery at Tongji Hospital, said developments in robotics, artificial intelligence and advanced communication technologies were expanding access to specialised surgical care, particularly in regions with limited availability of expert surgeons.
The Chinese Embassy in India also highlighted the procedure. Yu Jing, spokesperson for the embassy, posted on X that the surgery demonstrated “life-saving care, transcending borders” through the use of China-developed robotic and 5G technologies.
A glimpse into borderless healthcare
Medical experts said remote robotic surgery could eventually reduce the need for patients in smaller towns and remote regions to travel long distances for specialised treatment.
However, they noted that widespread adoption would require reliable high-speed internet infrastructure, cybersecurity safeguards, regulatory frameworks, emergency backup systems and significant investment in technology.
The Hyderabad-Wuhan procedure demonstrated that cross-border remote surgery is no longer a theoretical concept. The surgeon was in China, the patient was in Hyderabad, and the operation was completed successfully in real time.
