Huawei, Siriraj sign pact to operate 5G smart-hospital services

Over the next five years, the two parties will leverage state-of-the-art digital technology to increase the efficiency of medical services and operations that will improve the quality of healthcare services, they said in a press statement on Wednesday.

The MoU signing ceremony, held at Siriraj Medical Research Centre in Bangkok, involved Huawei Technologies (Thailand) CEO Abel Deng and Prof Dr Prasit Watanapa, dean of the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital.

The agreement comes in response to Siriraj Hospital’s mission to serve better by becoming a smart centre that will apply integrated digital technologies using 5G infrastructure, artificial intelligence, big data and cloud edge computing, in order to offer enhanced services, the statement said.

“These technologies will bring tremendous benefits to specific areas such as patient monitoring, cloud-based AI diagnoses, data collection and analytics, and resource allocation. The advances are also in line with the hospital’s desire to become the foremost medical hub and a leader in Thailand’s healthcare industry,” it said.

“Under this five-year agreement, Huawei will provide 5G technology to the faculty, enabling the immediate upgrade of existing infrastructure. It will also share knowledge and collaborate with Siriraj researchers and academic staff to enable Siriraj to operate more efficiently. Both parties will work together in other jointly developed projects that may arise in the course of the MoU,” the statement continued.

Siriraj will participate with Huawei in further 5G ecosystem partnership cooperation in the form of demonstration events and exhibitions to promote 5G technology and innovations. The hospital will also work with Huawei for joint academic sessions, to arrange training classes or technology sharing opportunities, and to study the latest technology topics including, but not limited to, 5G, AI and the cloud, it said.

“It is an honour for the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital to partner with Huawei,” said Prof Dr Prasit.

“This will raise the level and standards of our services and improve operational efficiency. This also marks the initial step in establishing Thailand’s first 5G smart state hospital. I would like to thank Huawei for helping us integrate 5G, cloud and AI technologies into our medical services. The company has made tremendous efforts to drive development through digital technology,” he added.

“The healthcare sector can benefit immensely from smart innovations and infrastructure during this era of digitalisation,” Deng said.

“We would like to accompany Thailand as it develops a strong, connected healthcare ecosystem in order to increase healthcare penetration in rural and remote communities and improve the quality of life of the people,” he added.