Vuno said on Wednesday that it launched a Patient Assistance Program (PAP) to provide its artificial intelligence (AI)-based cardiac arrest prediction medical device, VUNO Med-DeepCARS, to the recipients of medical benefits free of charge.

Stressing that it seeks "patient-centered healthcare," Vuno said it prepared the program to increase access to AI medical technology and fulfill corporate social responsibility regardless of the patient's income level.

Vuno Med-DeepCARS is an AI medical device that entered the uninsured market on Aug. 1 after being confirmed as the first advanced medical technology in the domestic medical AI industry.

Vuno noted that using the technology that monitors the risk of cardiac arrest within 24 hours, medical workers can take proactive measures by detecting the risk of cardiac arrest at an early stage in patients admitted to the general ward.

The medical technology is subject to anyone hospitalized in a general ward regardless of their disease or treatment department. However, access to this medical technology is limited by the patient's income level because the patient must bear the entire cost as it is registered as a non-payment item.

Against this backdrop, Vuno has decided to supply VUNO Med-DeepCARS to medical institutions free of charge to medically underprivileged people.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, there are about 570,000 in-patients who receive medical benefits from the government, accounting for 6 percent of all inpatients. Medical benefit recipients pay almost no money for insured services but should shoulder the cost of uninsured products and services during hospitalization.

"The patient support program is the first social contribution activity in the medical AI industry, demonstrating our corporate social responsibility," Vuno CEO Lee Ye-ha said. “We will do our best to ensure more patients experience AI medical technology so anyone can enjoy a high-level of healthcare.”