Robotic first for Umm Al Quwain hospital

Sheikh Khalifa General Hospital only the third in world to use the technology.

AJMAN // A hospital in Umm Al Quwain is the first in the GCC – and only third in the world – to use a robot to perform urological operations.

Dr Yasser Farahat, professor and consultant of urology at the emirate’s Sheikh Khalifa General Hospital, said that the robots are built in Turkey and used to treat urinary tract stones.

“What we have is robots specialised in urology, which is mainly for the treatment of urinary tract stones,” he said.

“Before, the robots were worked manually, but we found that the robotic [device] is more beneficial in different aspects.

“First, we can make our patients stone-free in one session and there’s no need to repeat the session. Second, we cannot treat pelvis stones manually. Third, we can reduce the time of the operation and the exposure to the hazardous radiation and avoid the repetition and scars.”

Dr Farahat said that only hospitals in France and Germany were already using the technology and that Sheikh Khalifa General had already performed more than 30 operations using the robots.

“Over 95 per cent [of the surgeries] made our patients free of stones after one session. We are the third [hospital in the world] who uses these robots, and the first in the UAE and GCC.”