- A Chinese medtech firm has gained 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 UK’s first long-distance surgery
A Chinese medical technology firm has gained EU approval for its remote surgery robot following its use by a London surgeon to operate on a patient 1,500 miles 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 is composed of a surgeon console, patient cart, and vision cart, with robotic ‘limbs’ allowing operators to perform operations. The system uses 5G connectivity to connect the surgeon console to the vision cart over long distances.
The approval follows Toumai’s successful use by a London surgeon to perform the UK’s first long-distance teleoperated surgery, a full prostate removal on a man with prostate cancer in Gibraltar.
Dr. Proskar Dasgupta performed the operation using the teleoperated system on 62-year old Paul Buxton in March 2026. Speaking to the BBC, Buxton said it was a “no-brainer” to take part 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 a single hospital within its borders, meaning residents may need to travel 1,500 miles north to the UK for more complex procedures.
However, Toumai and remote surgery systems like it allow patients to be treated by experts without traveling to meet them. Dr. Dasgupta said to the BBC that he felt “almost as if I was there” while conducting Mr. Buxton’s procedure.
On June 22, Shanghai Microport MedBot announced that the Toumai robotic surgery system had received the CE Mark — an EU stamp of approval required to sell products in its common market
As South China Morning Post reports, this allows the system to be “moved and marketed” freely in the EU, meaning the company is free to offer Toumai to healthcare providers in any of the EU’s 27 member states.
This will be welcome news for MedBot, which made 73 per cent of its revenue from overseas sales in 2025, up from 20 per cent in 2023.
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jamie.richards@futurenet.com (Jamie Richards)
