A Landmark Moment for Private Healthcare
Saint James Hospital has reached a defining milestone in Maltese medical history, successfully performing the first robotic surgeries ever carried out in Malta’s private healthcare sector. Following a €3.2 million investment in the Intuitive Da Vinci Xi system — the largest single investment in the hospital’s history — the first procedure, a prostatectomy, was completed with outstanding results.
Robotic surgery is widely regarded as the gold standard for this type of intervention, offering four-arm precision that surpasses the limitations of traditional two-handed technique.
Precision, Safety and Faster Recovery
The Da Vinci Xi system enables surgeons to operate remotely from a console, directing four robotic arms with 360-degree rotation and enhanced 3D visualisation, while eliminating the natural tremor of the human hand.
Chief Operations Officer Andrei Camenzuli highlighted the tangible benefits for patients: reduced risk of post-operative complications, smaller incisions and significantly faster recovery times.
“This is better for a surgeon, who only has two hands,” said Camenzuli, underscoring how the technology elevates both surgical capability and patient outcomes.
The system is suitable for a broad range of procedures, including urology, bariatric, gynaecological and complex cancer surgery.
Building a Robotic Future at Saint James
Saint James Hospital is planning three to four robotic procedures per week, amounting to approximately 170 surgeries in the first year alone.
CEO Jean-Claude Muscat has made clear that this is only the beginning: “We believe that in the next several years, more surgeries will be done using the robot — all our theatres in the next ten years will be robotic.” With a growing cohort of locally trained surgeons and the potential for cross-border operations in the future, Saint James is firmly committed to making robotic surgery the new standard of care.
