For surgery devices like what you're suggesting, look at some current haptics research. I'm actually participating in some of this stuff, where you stick your fingers in two little armatures. These armatures use inverse kinematics to determine the location of your fingers in space, and allow you to manipulate a 3D world. It's really really convincing, because you can "feel" the objects. The armatures give you very real feedback on the boundaries, stiffness, and texture of the object you're manipulating.
A device like this would be much better for surgery because they don't rely on inaccurate gestures for input. In addition, they provide direct feedback, giving an extra level of immersion. The wiimote relies on gestures, and as such, the motion control adds very little beyond what a button or two can do.