Thailand Inaugurates ASEAN’s First 5G Smart Hospital
At the launch, Prayut Chan-o-cha, the prime minister addressed the national policy on 5G technology and digital economy, saying the Thai government understands the importance of technology, successfully drafting a plan for Digital Thailand
Thailand Office of The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), Siriraj Hospital, and Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co., Ltd. have finally launched the “Siriraj World Class 5G Smart Hospital.”
In a statement, Huawei said this project is the first and largest 5G smart hospital project in Thailand and the ASEAN region which aims to bring more efficient and convenient experience to patients by introducing technologies such as 5G, cloud, and artificial intelligence (AI), and promote Siriraj Hospital to become a model for smart hospitals in Thailand and the world.
At the launch, Prayut Chan-o-cha, the prime minister addressed the national policy on 5G technology and digital economy, saying the Thai government understands the importance of technology, successfully drafting a plan for Digital Thailand, and this is an important first step in the utilization of digital technologies and 5G in the medical field.
“This will help reduce processes for medical personnel, decrease overall risk, and will improve the effectiveness and efficacy of healthcare for patients. We will use Siriraj 5G Smart Hospital as a pilot project to expand to other hospitals in the future,” he added.
Prasit Watanapa, MD, dean of Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital Mahidol University, shared the background and development of implementing Siriraj’s Smart Hospital Project with 5G and AI to build a model for “Smart Hospitals” in collaboration with its partners.
“Additionally, an Innovation Lab and other innovative platforms were also established to cultivate innovation projects in the future,” he said.
Natee Sukonrat, Ph.D., vice-chairman of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, addressed the NBTC’s support of the Project by saying that “The NBTC, as the regulatory body of broadcasting and telecommunications businesses, has a key mission for licensing frequencies to accommodate high-speed wireless communications in the 5G era, to promote the national telecommunications infrastructure development, and introduce the extension and utilization of technologies to various sectors.”
“This is in line with the government’s policy after the National 5G Committee resolved to approve the pioneer smart hospital project as a prototype project for 5G application and foresaw the potential of Siriraj Hospital – equipped with specialists and fully-integrated medical platforms – as being instrumental in development into a smart hospital to produce apparent results,” he added
Abel Deng, chief executive officer of Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co, Ltd, highlighted that the organization has collaborated with Siriraj Hospital to transform it into a world-class 5G Smart Hospital, and introduced the Innovation Lab at Srisavarindira Building as part of its 5G infrastructure project for Siriraj Hospital last year.
“This signifies a model for upgrading Thailand’s public health industry in the future and contributes to Siriraj’s transition to becoming a smart hospital, in line with Huawei’s mission to Grow in Thailand, Contribute to Thailand,” he said.
At the same time, Siriraj Hospital and Huawei will establish a Joint Innovation Lab to incubate innovative 5G applications. Presently, both parties have started piloting 5G portable medical boxes, 5G unmanned vehicles, 5G medical carts, and 5G smart hospital beds.
