Slavmed Medical Center has carried out a landmark intercontinental telesurgery procedure, with Dr. Levon Grigoryan operating on two patients in Yerevan while based in Shanghai. The operations involved abdominal wall hernia repair using advanced 3D mesh prostheses.
According to the medical center, Dr. Grigoryan, who heads the Robotic Surgery and Endoscopy Department at Slavmed Medical Center, worked from MicroPort MedBot’s headquarters in Shanghai. He controlled the robotic surgical system installed in Yerevan from a distance of more than 6,800 km, with connectivity maintained through a 9,000-km fiber-optic link. Inside the operating room in Yerevan, Slavmed’s medical and engineering teams were on site to ensure the procedures ran without interruption.
Armine Hovakimyan, Founder and CEO of Slavmed Medical Center, said the outcome reflects the center’s professional capabilities and its efforts to bring advanced medical technologies to Armenia. In her view, projects of this kind strengthen Armenia’s presence on the international medical stage and show that distance is no longer a barrier to top-level surgical care in modern medicine.
The center said seamless connectivity and hardware reliability are essential for successful telesurgery. Before the operations, the teams carried out extensive technical simulations and organizational preparations. Patient safety was supported by a multilayer backup system, including alternative communication channels in case of network disruption, as well as engineering and surgical teams stationed simultaneously in both locations.
Dr. Grigoryan said the procedures were unique in format and opened new prospects for the development of surgical care in Armenia. He added that the achievement places the country among technologically advanced nations and means Armenian specialists can assist patients from any part of the world where a compatible robotic system is available.
A key role in the operations was played by the Toumai robotic system, recently introduced at Slavmed Medical Center. The center said it is the only system in Armenia equipped with a dedicated module built specifically for remote telesurgery. It runs on the medical center’s specialized ultra-high-speed internet infrastructure. In the Yerevan operating room, Slavmed’s multidisciplinary robotic surgery team monitored the procedures and remained ready to switch to manual control at any moment if needed.
Dr. Narek Amiryan, a general and endoscopic surgeon at Slavmed Medical Center, said the system had undergone repeated stress testing and that the team had prepared thoroughly. He said both procedures were completed successfully.
Dr. Chao He, Founder and CEO of MicroPort MedBot, said robotic telesurgery is not only a technological breakthrough but also a new step for international clinical cooperation and the global exchange of surgical expertise. He highlighted the Slavmed Medical Center team’s training and technical proficiency as a crucial factor behind the success of the operation.
Slavmed Medical Center noted that it was the first institution in Armenia to introduce robotic surgery and create a specialized multidisciplinary team. After the country’s first robotic surgeries on December 19, 2025, the center continued expanding its range of complex robotic procedures. Earlier, on July 10, 2026, Slavmed also hosted Armenia’s first international robotic telesurgery, when Professor Alexandre Mottrie, Head of the Urology Department at OLV Hospital and CEO of ORSI Academy, operated remotely on a Slavmed patient from Belgium across a distance of more than 3,300 km.
