Cutting edge theatre: world’s first virtual reality operation goes live

Dr Shafi Ahmed will carry out surgery live-streamed in virtual reality, a move experts hope will make healthcare 'more equitable' and help medical training

This Thursday afternoon, Shafi Ahmed will lean over a patient and begin a delicate operation to remove cancerous tissue from a male patient's bowel. He has performed such procedures many times before. But this time it won't be just his surgical team who are in the room with him - the world will be there too.

Showing from 1pm the approximately two-hour long procedure at the Royal London Hospital is the world's first operation to be streamed live in 360-degree video, allowing medical students, trainee surgeons and curious members of the public to immerse themselves in the medical event in real time.