Thailand carried out its first robotic telesurgery on August 24. Surgeons in Bangkok operated on a patient more than 250 kilometres away in Nakhon Ratchasima. Public Health Minister Pattana Promphat presided over the opening at Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital, the Government Public Relations Department reported.
Surgeons at Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital, Dr Nipon Suparattanachart and Dr Thanathorn Termkraisri, operated on a prostate cancer patient there. Dr Peeradon Sapermsap controlled the robotic system remotely from Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital in Bangkok.
Pattana called the operation a historic step for Thai medicine, coming after the hospital’s earlier telesurgery success with China. He said it would serve as a model for expanding advanced medical technology into the provinces.
Dr Somrerk Chungsaman, permanent secretary for public health, said the surgery benefits medical staff in the provinces. It gives them a chance to build up their skills. He said the programme would later expand to hospital networks across the country’s health regions. The goal is to widen access to advanced care and reduce inequality.
Dr Natthapong Wongwiwat is director-general of the Department of Medical Services. He said Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital has run a robotic surgery programme since December 2025. The hospital has completed 52 robotic operations since then, all successfully, he said.
Those procedures span three specialties: gynaecology, covering uterine and ovarian cancer; general surgery, covering pancreatic, gastric and colorectal cancer; and urology, covering prostate and kidney cancer.
The hospital has also carried out telesurgery with West China Hospital, roughly 3,000 kilometres away. Surgeons there removed gallstones on April 21, and treated a prostate cancer patient on June 25. Both operations were controlled remotely from China.
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