Shanghai Concludes Its First AI-Assisted Surgical Training Program

What happened

Shanghai’s first official training program for AI-assisted surgery has wrapped up, and its inaugural class of 18 doctors will soon receive municipal certification. The course was launched in August under the direction of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (上海市卫生健康委员会) and hosted by Shanghai Changhai Hospital (上海长海医院), it has been reported that the curriculum combined classroom theory, simulation, live-animal operations using AI surgical tools, and supervised clinical application. Short, intensive. Practical, not just theoretical.

How the training works

Trainees were taught both to operate robotic systems and to embed AI into clinical workflows such as patient management. It has been reported that the hospital has run three cohorts so far; the second intake, begun in November, expanded the program from a single specialty—urology—to include obstetrics and gynecology, hepato‑pancreato‑biliary surgery, and colorectal surgery. Physicians choose between an assessment route for those with prior robotic experience and a systematic six‑month training route for less experienced candidates; after passing skills exams and a live‑animal surgery evaluation overseen by the municipal health commission, successful candidates receive official certification that permits them to perform AI‑assisted operations. You Xiaohua, director of the Clinical Teaching Training Center at Changhai Hospital, described the credential as “like a work permit — it means the Shanghai health commission has recognized (a doctor’s) robotic surgery skills.”

Why it matters

China is scaling practical training for AI‑augmented surgery nationwide. It has been reported that Shanghai Jiao Tong University–affiliated Renji Hospital (上海交通大学医学院附属仁济医院) was approved last December as a clinical training base, while in 2025 six Beijing hospitals were designated training centers and a six‑month urology program recently began at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University (南京医科大学第二附属医院). Why the push now? Beyond clinical demand, the expansion comes against a backdrop of geopolitical tension and Western export controls on high‑end chips and medical robotics — Beijing is increasing domestic capacity in AI and surgical robotics as part of a broader drive for technological self‑reliance. Reportedly, more municipal training bases are planned as hospitals seek to standardize procedures and credentialing for an era of AI‑assisted care.