China to build 5G demonstration hospital in Guangdong

Visitors experience the 5G-enabled VR medical visualization platform during the 2018 National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week in Beijing, October 8, 2018. The equipment was provided by a Beijing-based company, which enables users to operate a tele-mentored live surgery over 5G connection. (Photo by He Yong from People’s Daily)

A 5G hospital will soon be built in south China’s Guangdong Province, according to a cooperation document signed by Chinese tech firm Huawei, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital and Guangdong Mobile on Mar. 9. The three will establish a smart medical service system under the Internet Plus framework compatible with the next generation of communication technology. The project will commence this year, said the cooperation document. The 5G network, the latest generation of information and communication technology, features high speed, low delay and large capacity. It is expected to be applied in more scenarios of medical services, create better technical management, and bring more innovation.

According to the agreement, the three parties will establish an expert team on remote medical imaging solution, telemedicine, digital medical services, and big data, to provide quality services for patients with more convenience and higher efficiency via 5G network. A Huawei employee told People’s Daily that with the integration of 5G, big data, and artificial intelligence, doctors would be able to check high-definition medical images of the patients under the 5G network before the patients go to hospitals. It enables the doctors to map out optimal treatment solutions in advance. At present, China is seeing continuous progress of the 5G application in the medical sector. Medical institutions and enterprises in Hubei, Beijing, Sichuan, Zhejiang and many other regions have already started relevant researches and practices.

For instance, on Feb. 21 this year, China Telecom Wuhan Branch and Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in central China’s Hubei Province signed a strategic agreement, planning to build China’s first 5G intelligent medical demonstration project. In addition, Sichuan Province also carried out the first pilot telemedicine program under 5G networks in southwest China. Besides, the West China Hospital of Sichuan University, as a pilot hospital of 5G applications, completed a demonstration of remote ultrasonic diagnosis under the 5G network, according to Li Weimin, president of the hospital. Not long ago, the first-ever 5G-assisted remote surgical operation in the world was successfully performed in southeast China’s Fujian province.

The hepatic lobule of an experimental animal was removed by a robotic arm manipulated by Liu Rong, director of the No.2 surgical department of liver and gallbladder of Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital 50 kilometers away. The operation, performed on real-time signal transmission under the 5G network, marked the official entry of surgery into the 5G era. 5G technology will be widely applied for clinical use in the near future, said Liu Jingfeng, head of Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical University. The technology would also make remote ward round and remote B-scan ultrasonography possible, bringing more high-quality medical resources to remote areas, he added. By that time, patients will be able to receive diagnosis from provincial- and state-level experts, and even internationally renowned experts without traveling far.

By Du Yifei

(People’s Daily)