Barcelona surgeons operate 3,000 km away thanks to pioneering telesurgery

Barcelona leads Europe's first remote telesurgery procedure. Local doctors have already carried out 11 operations in the Canary Islands without leaving the city. The technology promises to transform access to complex operations in remote areas.

The possibility of receiving a complex operation without leaving your island is already a reality for some patients in Spain. Barcelona is becoming the epicentre of European medical innovation after the launch of the first telesurgery programme that allows surgeons to operate more than 3,000 kilometres away.

In the operating theatres of the Catalan capital, specialists operate in real time a robotic system that acts on patients located in Gran Canaria. To date, 11 operations have been carried out successfully, and all patients have progressed favourably after the procedure.

This technology opens up an unprecedented opportunity for people who live far from major hospitals. Doctors highlight that, thanks to this advance, residents of remote regions will be able to access advanced surgical treatments without having to travel to the mainland or to large cities.

Telesurgery not only reduces waiting times and the costs associated with travel, but also positions Barcelona as a benchmark in the application of cutting-edge medical solutions in Europe.

Telesurgery, based on high-precision robotic systems and ultra-fast data connections, represents one of the greatest technological leaps in modern medicine. Its development has required years of collaboration between engineers, doctors and telecommunications experts. The main challenge has been ensuring safety and immediacy in the transmission of movements, something essential when a patient's life depends on perfect coordination between the surgeon and the machine. Barcelona, with its innovation ecosystem and leading hospitals, has established itself as an ideal setting for driving projects of this kind.