Korean telecom KT Corp. and Samsung Medical Center are jointly developing a 5G-powered medical service as a first step toward establishing a 5G smart hospital.
The pilot project will use KT’s enterprise-dedicated 5G network for operating and proton therapy rooms and the two parties plan to continue to develop smart patient care and use the fast download speed and high bandwidth to improve overall hospital operational efficiency.
The companies plan to apply 5G to services such as digital diagnostic pathology, surgery, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled care for in-patients and autonomous robots for operating rooms.
During diagnostic pathology, tissues are taken from a patient during surgery for analysis and sent to a pathologist in an adjacent room. This requires up to 20 minutes of walking back and forth, making it hard for pathologists to conduct on-site group analysis. With 5G speeds and low latency, speedy and uninterrupted access to pathological data can be obtained. 5G networks also provide speedy access to CT and MRI data on proton therapy and allows them to be shared from anywhere within the medical center.
The network would also enable 5G-assisted education at the Samsung Medical Center so surgeons operating could teach a large group of trainees in a separate lecture room, using sync cams on a 5G network to provide both teaching opportunities and different perspectives of surgeons in real-time.
Autonomous robots would also be enabled through the 5G network to bring in surgery supplies or dispose of medical waste or even assist in surgery. AI assistants could be used to control a hospital room with a voice command or check medical conditions and help respond to emergencies quicker over the 5G network.
These pilot projects using 5G will be the first steps toward building a 5G-powered smart hospital that will bring new services and collaboration for patients, medical staff and visitors, the companies said.
