Uplifting news emerges from the Arabian Gulf region from time to time, revealing the creativity of its generous people and the fruits of their governments' investment in national talent.
Among the latest of these glad tidings is what the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported the day before yesterday about retinal ophthalmology and surgery consultant Dr. Khaled Al-Sebti, who has invented an intelligent robot specialised in remote eye surgery, described as "the first of its kind in the world." It was developed together with engineer Mishary Al-Jandal, with support from the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences.
The device, named "Repotech," gives a surgeon the opportunity to perform delicate procedures with the participation of colleagues from different countries through an advanced communications technology that enhances medical collaboration between global experts.
The device also incorporates a "robotic nurse" that supports the medical team and manages multiple tasks in the operating room to raise the efficiency of the surgeons' performance. The system is backed by artificial intelligence that seeks to minimise errors and maintains precision throughout the course of the operation.
The device originated as the core idea of a research project presented at an international retinal surgery conference in the United States, where it was widely admired and described as "a promising step in the future of eye surgery." The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences adopted it until it saw the light of day.
For those unfamiliar with it, the Foundation is a scientific icon whose star rose in 1976. By law, all companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange contribute a percentage of their profits to the Foundation's budget, in order to support sciences, scientists, innovators, and other research and development projects.
There are other pioneering surgical projects as well, including work carried out by physicians from the United Arab Emirates using robots to perform complex surgical procedures across multiple specialities. Advanced centres in Qatar have also distinguished themselves in organ surgery and transplantation, while Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Oman have achieved notable milestones in the localisation of precision medical technologies, surgical simulation, and remote surgery. All of this feeds into efforts to harness science and technology to expand treatment opportunities for those in need as rapidly as possible, while also raising the quality of healthcare.
The problem facing Arab youth is not a shortage of ideas — these flow abundantly — but the challenge they face is the limited financial support available (outside the Gulf). It would therefore be desirable for every country to have a distinguished institution like the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences to support scholars' efforts and enhance the role of scientific research. There would be no harm in varied television programmes, some featuring simple inventions and others of greater depth presented by leading scientists and physicians.
The importance of remote surgery lies above all in the fact that it is a purely humanitarian endeavour. It can treat those in need at the far reaches of the world and in remote villages where modern technology is difficult to access. The contribution of Gulf country nationals to this work represents a transfer of expertise — acquired at the world's finest universities — to those who need it most, while also allowing them to benefit from the experience of those who have preceded them around the world.
A single operation involves more than one specialist who exchange expertise throughout, and the remote surgery project goes to the very heart of what is known in the political science literature as "soft power," which reveals the bright side of this peaceful Gulf people, innately disposed to giving.
What we need today is not merely more admiration for achievements, but greater serious investment in the minds that produce those innovations. Every successful research project must enter a national "ideas bank" where it is classified by speciality, with each proposal assigned a priority according to specific criteria.
Nothing is more deserving of priority than surgical research, for the role it plays in alleviating the suffering of patients. And ultimately, it requires neither the surgeon nor their team to travel to distant or dangerous places.