First robotic arm surgery to be performed in UAE

Dubai: Going under the knife takes on new meaning for three patients in the UAE this Friday - one of the hands holding the knife will be a robot.

The UAE will see its first robotic arm-assisted surgery happen on Friday at Rashid Hospital, where foreign experts will perform bariatric surgery on three UAE patients.

The procedure will be broadcast live to an audience at the hospital auditorium, part of a three-day laparoscopic and endoscopic surgical conference organised by the Emirates Medical Association.

Prof Rolf Hartung, head of general surgery at Dubai Hospital, told Gulf News the idea of the conference was to inform the medical community of the latest technology in surgery.

"Up till now, we operate through the skin. Then [we started doing minimally-invasive laparoscopic surgery]. And now, we have robotic surgeries," he said.

Robotic surgery is done by a robot specially designed to perform medical procedures and controlled by a surgeon in another room. The method lessens the risks of infection and requires fewer people to perform a surgery. However, the cost is prohibitive, carrying a price tag of as much as Dh5 million.

Prof Hartung said a more popular and cheaper alternative now was using the robotic arm to assist surgeries rather than a whole robot. "The robotic arm will do part of the surgery. It removes the need for a second surgeon in complicated procedures [because] the robotic arm works as an extra hand," he said.

He said the robotic arm could also lower the risk of mistakes from trembling, which might occur when a surgeon was tired.

He added the robotic arm-assisted surgeries at Rashid Hospital were for demonstration purposes only. The conference will also include a live transmission from Singapore, where surgeon Dr Susan Lim will perform a procedure using a full robot.