Qatar launches robotic surgery training

Five doctors from HMC and one from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar are being trained to teach at QSTP and perform surgery at HMC.

The training took place last week at Imperial College London, which is partnering with QSTP to set up the Qatar Robotic Surgery Centre at the science park.

The centre will have three main purposes: Demonstrate new medical robots; train surgeons from Qatar and the region; and participate in further development of the technology.

It will engage in collaborative research with robot manufacturers and surgery centres worldwide, including that of Imperial College London.

It will also provide the opportunity for local surgeons to develop new clinical procedures.

The Qatar Robotic Surgery Centre will open at QSTP in the second half of 2009.

Its one thousand square meters will be equipped with three Da Vinci brand medical robots, a simulation operating theatre and a "tele-mentoring" suite.

It aims to train eighty students and fifty surgeons from the region annually, and as many again from overseas.

HMC, Qatar's largest public hospital, is also setting up its own functioning robotic-surgery training unit.

It took possession of its first medical robots earlier this year and envisages that they will be used for patient operations in four to six months.

Medical robotics is a fast-growing field that combines the accuracy of machines with the skill of humans.

Computer-controlled mechanical "wrists" can scale-down a surgeon's hand movements so that the surgical tool moves only a fraction of the distance the operator's hand does.

This allows tiny, stable movements that would be physically impossible by hand alone.

Robots are most commonly used in prostate, heart and gynecologic surgery.

Dr. Tidu Maini, Executive Chairman of Qatar Science & Technology Park, said:

"Being a leader in targeted medical research is core to Qatar's strategy for building a knowledge economy. The Robotic Surgery Centre is an ambitious but achievable project that will make Qatar a global medical innovator, while delivering real health benefits for the local community."

Dr. Abdulatif Al Khal, Chairman of the Department of Medicine and Director of Medical Education at Hamad Medical Corporation, said

"The robotic surgery facilities of Hamad and QSTP complement each other perfectly. This close collaboration between QSTP and HMC is setting example for mutually beneficial partnership. Together they will transform Qatar into a regional hub of excellence in training, development and clinical practice in robotics surgery. This is a wonderful new technology and our doctors are keen to start using it to improve patient care in Qatar."