Dr Syed Mohammad Ghouse operated on a patient in Hyderabad, while in China's Wuhan, using robotics-assisted tele-surgery. A medical marvel was witnessed in Hyderabad as a woman underwent a surgery performed by a doctor 3,900 kilometres away from her in China's Wuhan. The rare but successful surgery was performed by Indian urologist Dr Syed Mohammad Ghouse, a senior urologist at Hyderabad's Asian Institute of Nephrology and Urology (AINU) who was in Wuhan at the time.Urologist conducts surgery in Hyderabad from Wuhan via a robotics-assisted tele-surgery (PTI)The 57-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with ureteric obstruction, underwent a robotics-assisted tele-surgery from Wuhan, and a video of the procedure was shared by news agency PTI.Dr Ghouse was in Wuhan at the time to attend a conference, but that didn't stop him from conducting the surgery. A human aide was placed next to the patient in Hyderabad for efficient communication and assistance in need of emergencies. The surgery went smoothly and finished in 90 minutes, PTI reported.“It was basically a ureteric reimplantation that was contemplated for a patient who got a ureteric obstruction. What is ureteric obstruction? It is a tube which connects kidney to the urinary bladder and this tube was blocked for this particular patient,” Dr Ghouse, who is also the Director of Robotic and Minimal Access Urological Surgery at AINU Hyderabad, said."This blocked tube was freshly attached to the bladder which is known as ureteric reimplantation. So, this we regularly do in our operation theatre with the robot and console by the side of the patient, but this was extended to Wuhan, because I was called for a conference there ,and there were 4-5 other surgeons, who had done tele-surgery from there to their own countries. I have done from there to this patient and it was done successfully. The patient went home."Former attemptsThis isn't the first instance of medicine and robotics colliding to open the option of remote surgeries. Dr Mohit Bhandari, a leading bariatric metabolic surgeon in India, had performed the world's first transcontinental bariatric surgery from Strasbourg (France) to Indore back in July 2025, as reported by PTI.He spoke out in favour of the advantage that robotic surgeries provide in diversifying access to healthcare across metropolitans into smaller cities and villages. “Robotic surgery is poised to fundamentally change how advanced surgical care is delivered beyond metro cities. Traditionally, high-end procedures have been concentrated in tertiary urban centres, but three parallel shifts will drive decentralisation," Dr Bhandari said on the sidelines of the recently concluded 3rd edition of the Global Robotic Surgery Conference in Delhi from April 9-12.Stuti Gupta is a Content Producer at Hindustan Times, based in New Delhi, where she is a part of the General News team, tasked with reporting on happenings across the country impacting domestic as well as international ecospheres. In her role at HT, she is responsible for keeping a track of incoming news updates, packaging stories and publishing them in a format best suited to their purpose. She holds a Bachelor’s in Mass Communication and Journalism from St Xavier’s, Mumbai and is partial towards working on international affairs. Apart from her interest in the geopolitical world, she is a keen reader, writer, orator, debater and learner who loves picking up new information. She has been recognized for her previous literary work at the international level with a Gold Finalist, Gold and Silver Award in various participating years at the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition along with winning the third prize and getting her story published in Children’s World in 2017. Barring academic and professional pursuits, she has a passion for travelling to new places, exploring new cultures and cuisines, documenting them through words and pictures and interacting with people from diverse backgrounds. She is also an avid enthusiast of studying art forms such as cinema, dance, theatre and music as a tool for cultural storytelling and actively participates in them.Read More