Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman received the Saudi medical team that performed the world's first fully robotic heart transplant at his office in Riyadh on Wednesday.

The medical team from King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSHRC) of Riyadh had successfully performed the world's first heart transplant using a robot on a 16-year-old patient suffering from end-stage heart failure in September 2024. The transplant procedure, which took two and a half hours, was performed by an exceptional medical team led by renowned Saudi cardiac surgeon Dr. Feras Khaliel, who is head of Cardiac Surgery and director of the Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery Program at KFSHRC, following weeks of meticulous preparation.

The meeting with the Crown Prince was also held in the presence of Chairman of the Board of Directors of KFSHRC Mazen Al-Rumaih, CEO of KFSHRC Dr. Majed Al-Fayyadh, and Deputy CEO Dr. Björn Zoega.

During the reception, the Crown Prince congratulated the medical team and the leaders of KFSHRC on the historic achievement, praising the Saudi team's competencies and their ability to innovate and achieve an unprecedented feat internationally in the medical field, which contributes to enhancing human health in the Kingdom and the world.

On their part, members of the medical team expressed their pride and honor in meeting the Crown Prince. They thanked the Crown Prince’s continuous support, stressing that the generous gesture is an incentive for achieving more successes in the medical field.

Dr. Feras Khaliel, head of the medical team, stressed that receiving the Crown Prince is an incentive for them to do more in serving the humanity and the nation.