FET spoke glowingly of remote diagnosis and treatment and 5G application in 2020 Taiwan- Japan Science Technology Forum

        The Taiwan- Japan Science Technology Forum was held on September 28 at the Chiang ShuoJie International Conference Hall of Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research with the theme of “digital innovation and prospective medical treatment”. FET president Chee Ching was invited to deliver a speech on "The future of medical treatment with 5G - remote diagnosis and treatment practice application sharing" on the first day and shared the innovative applications in the cross fields of smart technologies (such as AI, IOT, robotics, 5G) with government, industry and academic professionals in Taiwan and Japan. It is expected that Taiwan and Japan can reach a consensus on the development and application of innovative technology in the medical field, and lead Taiwan and Japan to jointly create a forward-looking thinking of "data driven innovation" and explore possible cooperation schemes.

         President Chee Ching said that although the public has excellent health insurance and medical resources, there are still many areas where medical resources are relatively scarce in Taiwan. In addition, the new COVID-19 this year is also spreading. The medical mode of the public and medical institutions is also facing challenges. Among them, zero contact medical mode is rapidly rising, and remote diagnosis and treatment service is one of them.

        According to the data from the National Development and Reform Commission and the Statistics Department of Interior, Taiwan will enter the super aged society after 2026, the people over 65 will account for 20.6% of the total population. With the advent of an aged society, the demand for convenience of diagnosis and treatment is also rapidly increasing, and remote diagnosis and treatment is imperative. After Taiwan officially entered the 5G this year, the three most important features of 5G, high bandwidth, low latency, and large-scale Internet of things (IOT), will provide high-resolution medical imaging and instant communication services required for remote medical treatment, especially the mobile services without field restrictions.

        Since 2018, FET has been committed to the development of big data, artificial intelligence and Internet of things (IOT) applications, and smart medical technology has been one of the important industrial developments, this year, the " Health+ Telemedicine Solution" was officially launched in combination with 5G, cloud services and Medical-IOT, which led to the introduction of the first telemedicine service in Taitung county. At the same time, it also connected the telemedicine doctors from three large medical institutions and the medical centers 100 km away to provide ophthalmology, dermatology and otorhinolaryngology for the people of Taitung county.

        President Chee Ching pointed out that the first step in promoting and applying telemedicine is to replace the road with the Internet, so that there is no longer distance between diagnosis and treatment. Although people in Taiwan have good health insurance and medical resources, people still face the problem of remote medical treatment in areas where medical resources are relatively scarce, or in families with elderly or disabled members. Taking Taitung County as an example, the biggest medical cost that 40% of the people face is distance. After launch of 5G remote diagnosis and treatment service by FET, more than 1000 patients have been served in Taitung County since the service went live, which also cut the transportation cost caused by the shortage of specialist in Taitung County for a long time, and helps local people shorten the 4-hour round-trip time for medical treatment. It is estimated that 26000 families and 70000 people will benefit in 11 townships in Taitung County.

        During the clinical application of remote specialist out-patient clinic in Taitung County, 5G practice has successfully brought unprecedented experience and quality of remote diagnosis and treatment for doctors and patients. In addition to the remote specialist outpatient service, FET is also actively promoting and developing its application in medical fields such as home-based telemedicine, emergency medical care consultation, and health screening in rural areas. On this basis, combined with the digital development such as Medical-IOT and AI, it is believed that 5G will bring more prospective applications and innovative service modes to Taiwan's medical industry.