The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, revealed that Al Qassimi Women’s & Children’s Hospital, in cooperation and coordination with Al Qassimi Hospital, has successfully performed 3 operations for uterine prolapse using the da Vinci robotic surgical system.
The UAE’s first of its kind achievement underpins the successes of the robotic surgery program in gynecology, developed by the Ministry of Health, which has become the first entity to implement and develop such a program at the state level, as part of an integrated framework to promote robotic surgery in several medical specialties.
The achievement also crowns the efforts being made by the Visiting Consultant Office, which is doing its best to bring about its strategic goals set by the ministry concerning robotic operations, and reaffirms the ministry’s keenness to support the Visiting Consultants Program with the latest equipment and technologies to render quality healthcare services for patients.
Dr. Labib Riachi, Reconstructive Surgery and Robotic Gynecology specialist, had successfully performed 3 operations for uterine prolapse using the robotic arms connected to 3D laparoscopy. The painless surgery was done through a small opening in the abdomen and patients went home within 24 hours without complication and with minimal pain compared to traditional surgeries.
A leadership in robotic surgery
HE Abdul Rahman bin Mohammad Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention, stressed that the ministry has always been protective in harnessing the latest robots to conduct surgeries, and is doing its utmost to redouble its achievements in the artificial intelligence field. “This stems out of the wise directives of the UAE government, which seeks to become an excellence hub in the Middle East for performing robotic surgeries in most medical specialties,” AlOwais said.
“The ministry has also made significant successes in the field of robotic cardiac surgeries and this paves the way for more achievements in more disciplines, the minister noted, adding that the MOHAP is successfully moving towards to integrating artificial intelligence into medical services, in line with the UAE strategy for artificial intelligence and UAE Centennial 2071. “We are striving to bring about a qualitative transformation in health care services by providing the best treatment methods for patients according to the latest international standards,” Al Owais underscored.
Comprehensive medical system
Dr. Mohammad Salim Al Olama, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Health, made it clear that a total of 126 robotic surgeries have been successfully carried out between 2019-2020in addition to 130 clinical consultations in 6 medical specialties, lauding the remarkable achievements made by the medical team of Al Qassimi Women’s & Children’s Hospital and Al Qassimi Hospital in cooperation with the Visiting Consultants Program.
Al Olamasaid: “The program seeks to establish a center to train Emirati doctors and qualify them to use robots safely and in all specialties.”
This comes as part of a well-planned strategy to consolidate the use of robotic surgeries in accordance with a forward-looking vision to continue innovation in robotic surgery, given its capabilities in performing complex operations, reducing wounds, pain, and medical errors, and promoting the use of artificial intelligence as a sustainable approach in future healthcare services.
