Dr. Rafik Abu Samra established the UAE's first robotic-assisted cardiac surgery unit. He has performed over 8,000 cardiac surgeries — 1,700 of them robotic. Today he leads cardiac surgery at Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital, Dubai Healthcare City, and American Hospital Dubai.
Dr. Rafik Abu Samra
Senior Consultant Cardiac Surgeon
30+
Years experience
8,000+
Cardiac surgeries
1,700+
Robotic procedures
Briefing UAE leadership at a healthcare exhibition, Dubai.
In a country that imports its specialists, Dr. Rafik went the other way. He trained on the world's first cardiac surgical robots in Leipzig, Germany. Then he built the UAE's first robotic cardiac surgery unit and operated on its first patient. The technique he introduced — Da Vinci-assisted heart surgery — is now the option his patients ask for by name.
How robotic surgery worksFrom routine coronary bypass to complex aortic reconstruction — including robotic, transcatheter, and minimally invasive options where appropriate.
Redo surgeries through scar-bound chests. Failed prior repairs. The cases other hospitals refer when no one else will operate. Three London surgeons told Lorna it couldn't be done — Dr. Rafik performed it.
MD from the Medical University of Silesia. Robotic training at Leipzig. PhD on minimally invasive cardiac surgery. 8,000+ procedures since.
Member of EACTS, ISMICS, and the Polish Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons. Published research. Patients who fly home in a week.
"Three London surgeons told me it couldn't be done."
Lorna, 38, was born with Tetralogy of Fallot. By her late thirties, the valves repaired in childhood had failed. Two prior chest surgeries had left adhesions; opening the chest a third time took three hours alone.
A week after Dr. Rafik's team replaced her pulmonary valve and repaired her tricuspid, she was discharged.
Dr. Rafik consults across three of Dubai's leading private hospitals. Same surgeon, same standard of care — whichever location is closest to you.
Dubai Healthcare City
Oud Metha, Dubai
Dubai
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