The Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital (SRRSH), affiliated with the Zhejiang University School of Medicine, has partnered with China Unicom and Huawei to develop a smart healthcare system on a province-wide Computing First Network (CFN) and a customized 5G private network, powered by slicing and edge computing. This data-isolated, quality-assured system employs5G technologies to bridge the gap in medical technologies, extending high-quality care to underserved areas and ensuring equal access to healthcare for all.
This system grants patients and doctors access to remote medical services and guidance through a variety of devices, including smartphones, TVs, AR glasses, and robots.
Through intelligent transformation, SRRSH now offers comprehensive, end-to-end mobile healthcare services, enabling patients to manage every aspect of their care on a 5G smartphone, from booking appointments and registration, to payment, examination, hospitalization, surgery, and discharge. By streamlining the patient journey, the hospital reduces in-hospital treatment times from 4.5 hours to 1.7 hours, for an all-round better patient experience. Moreover, the integration of 5G and AI enables pre-diagnosis, allowing patients to consult doctors remotely from the comfort of their own homes.
SRRSH combines 5G and AR to provide self-service decision-making support and real-time remote group consultations. This enables instant sharing of its medical and educational resources to underserved areas, where doctors can access expert guidance in real time to deliver timely treatment.
Recently, the 5G+AR system played a critical role in the emergency treatment of a construction worker who suffered multiple fractures and severe hemorrhagic shock after a fall from a significant height. The patient was rushed to the nearest hospital in critical condition. A doctor who administered first aid to the patient used the 5G+AR system and initiated a remote consultation with Hong Yucai, director of the emergency medical department at SRRSH. Donning AR glasses, the onsite doctor live-streamed the patient's injuries and condition to Hong. Hong remotely guided the onsite doctor to identify the critical area causing the bleeding — in this case, a blood vessel injury caused by a fractured jawbone — and quickly stop the loss of blood, saving the patient's life.
The5G+AR system dynamically expands Zhejiang's urban emergency medical resources to counties across the province, facilitating urban-rural joint diagnosis and treatment. Since its trial launch, the system has integrated multiple county-level hospitals and community healthcare service centers in Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Zhoushan, benefiting over 100,000 residents in mountainous areas and on islands.
As the leader of China's national engineering center for innovation and application of microinvasive equipment, SRRSH has been working with universities, research institutes, and enterprises for years to drive the rapid advancement and innovation of microinvasive medicine and medical equipment.
SRRSH Professor Cai Xiujun and his team, including Dr. Liang Xiao, made history in China by performing the country's first 5G ultra-remote robotic cholecystectomy. From a surgery center in Hangzhou, Dr. Liang remotely controlled a robotic arm in an operating room far away in Xinjiang using a microinvasive surgical robot, successfully performing a cholecystectomy on a patient. Cai hailed the surgery as a significant breakthrough in 5G ultra-remote robotic surgery in China, which showcases the country's leadership in 5G and medical equipment technologies, as well as advancements in real-time cross-region sharing of top medical resources.
5G is driving the digital transformation of Zhejiang, boosting socioeconomic growth and modernization. To further contribute to this, SRRSH will continue to foster technological innovation and clinical application of 5G telemedicine, solidifying its status as a standard practice and achieving comprehensive 5G coverage across all diagnostic and treatment areas.