- Chinese medtech company gets EU approval for its remote surgery robot
- Medbot’s Toumai system can now be moved and marketed freely in the European Union
- The approval comes after Toumai was used for the first long-distance surgery in the UK.
A Chinese medical technology company has won EU approval for its remote surgery robot after a London surgeon used it to operate on a patient 2,400 kilometers away in Gibraltar.
Shanghai Microport MedBot’s Toumai is a three-part remote surgery system that allows doctors and surgeons to perform operations on the abdomen and pelvis.
The system consists of a surgeon console, a patient cart and a vision cart, with robotic “limbs” that allow operators to perform operations. The system uses 5G connectivity to connect the surgeon’s console to the vision cart over long distances.
The approval follows the successful use of Toumai by a London surgeon to perform the first long-distance teleoperated surgery in the UK, a complete removal of the prostate on a man with prostate cancer in Gibraltar.
Dr Proskar Dasgupta performed the operation using the teleoperated system on Paul Buxton, 62, in March 2026. Speaking to the BBC, Buxton said it was “obvious” to participate in the experimental procedure and become “part of medical history”.
The robot will see you now
Gibraltar, a small UK territory just south of Spain, has only one hospital within its borders, meaning residents may have to travel 1,500 miles north of the UK for more complex procedures.
However, Toumai and remote surgery systems like it allow patients to be treated by experts without having to travel to meet them. Dr Dasgupta told the BBC he felt “almost like I was there” while performing Mr Buxton’s procedure.
On June 22, Shanghai Microport MedBot announced that the Toumai robotic surgery system had received the CE mark, an EU seal of approval necessary to sell products in its common market.
As the South China Morning Post reports, this allows the system to “move and market” freely in the EU, meaning the company is free to offer Toumai to healthcare providers in any of the 27 EU member states.
This will be good news for MedBot, which made 73 percent of its revenue from overseas sales in 2025, up from 20 percent in 2023.
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