Siriraj – NBTC – Huawei launches “Siriraj World Class 5G Smart Hospital”

Today (16 December 2021) at 09.00 hours, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, presided over the inauguration of “Siriraj World Class 5G Smart Hospital” alongside Mr. Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, Minister of Digital Economy and Society, Prof. Dr. Prasit Watanapa, MD, Dean of Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital Mahidol University, Colonel Natee Sukonrat, Ph.D, Vice-Chairman of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, Mr. Han Zhiqiang, Ambassador of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Thailand, Mr. Abel Deng, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co., Ltd., as well as Assoc. Prof. Visit Vamvanij, MD, Director of Siriraj Hospital, Assoc. Prof. Cherdchai Nopmaneejumruslers, Vice Director of Siriraj Hospital, and executives for the ceremony at Rachapanaddasirindhorn Auditorium Conference Room, Srisavarindira Building, Siriraj Hospital.

Prof. Dr. 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 artificial intelligence (AI) to build a model for “Smart Hospitals” in collaboration with its partners – introducing 5G, Cloud, AI, and Digital Disruption technologies for application in prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation to enhance the quality and productivity of medical services, bring about good experiences while using its services, provide people in remote areas with better opportunities to access advanced tertiary health care services, as well as minimize the disparity and serve as a model for new generations of medical services to the global public health industry. In addition, an Innovation Lab and other innovative platforms were also established to cultivate innovation projects in the future.

The Project comprises nine programs as follows:

1. Smart EMS with 5G and AI;

2. Smart Emergency Room with 5G and AI;

3. Pathological diagnosis system with 5G and AI;

4. 5G AI Platform for NCD;

5. 5G AI Smart Inventory Management;

6. Permission based block chain for personal health record;

7. Smart Logistic with 5G Unmanned car;

8. Multi-access Edge computing (MEC);

9. Hybrid Cloud

Each of these programs proceeded as planned with concrete results and it is expected that all programs will be completed according to their respective objectives. Siriraj is thus regarded as Thailand’s first hospital to develop a prototype project that applies and finetunes 5G technology to improve the efficiency of medical services, thereby becoming a Smart Hospital with 5G, Cloud and AI solutions – pioneering such medical services with efficiency, reliability, and trust for Thai people.

Colonel 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 equipment – as being instrumental in development into a smart hospital to produce apparent results. Therefore, the NBTC and NBTC Office have set budgets for project implementation, coordination for frequency utilization, and transfer of state-of-the-art technology and know-how to support further applications in other hospitals nationwide in order to provide those in remote areas with more access to advanced health care services.”

Mr. Abel Deng, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co., Ltd., highlighted that “Huawei 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.”

Mr. Han Zhiqiang, Ambassador of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Thailand, emphasized that as long as Thailand is in need and as long as China is capable, China is willing to go all out to help Thailand fight the pandemic. He further expressed confidence in the future of China-Thailand cooperation in smart healthcare. “China and Thailand’s 5G cooperation has become model in the region, helping Thailand become the first country in Southeast Asia to launch 5G commercial use. China is willing to work together with Thailand to address common challenges and drive economic development, and will continue to support Huawei and other Chinese companies in growing Smart Hospitals and bringing better lives for Thai and Chinese people.”

General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister, addressed the national policy on 5G technology movements, stating, “I am pleased and honored that Thailand is moving forward with 5G and AI technology and is being utilized in Siriraj’s 5G Smart Hospital. The Thai government understands the importance of technology, successfully drafting a plan for Digital Thailand, and today is an important start 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 with the aim of expanding to other hospitals in the future. Today is a first step to successfully implement 5G technology for medical use. We would like to thank Ambassador of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Thailand for a land-lasting friendship and collaboration between Thailand and China. We admire Siriraj Hospital and Mahidol University, and would like to thank Huawei, NBTC, private organizations, and all other partners involved in this project. We hope the project will act as a blueprint for all Smart Hospitals in Thailand going forward.“

The exhibition “Siriraj 5G Smart Hospital” and the Innovation Lab will be open to the public until 12:00hrs on 17 December 2021 at the front of Rachapanaddasirindhorn Auditorium Conference Room, Siriraj Hospital.

This cross-sector collaboration will enhance and upgrade the services of Siriraj Hospital to progress it to become a smart medical center using digital technologies based on 5G, AI, Big Data infrastructure, and Cloud Edge processing for the purpose of patient tracking, disease diagnosis by AI on Cloud, data storage and analysis, and allocation of resources – all of which will help pave the way to fulfill the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital’s vision to become the “Medical Institute of the Nation, a Creator of Global Citizen Wellbeing”, and a Smart Hospital model for other hospitals in Thailand.