Korea University Medical Center and SK Telecom agreed Monday to cooperate to build a futuristic “Intelligent Medical Center,” university officials said.
International Medical Center is a hospital which provides patient-oriented healthcare services and realizes futuristic medicine by using AI (Artificial Intelligence), IoT (Internet of Things) and MR (Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality).
Korea University Medical Center고려대의료원 and SK TelecomSK텔레콤 plan to conduct three specific projects; the research and development for voice recognition diagnosis system in the AI division, the introduction of the integrated medical guidance in the IoT division, and the implementation of “up-to-date multidisciplinary cooperative treatment system” and “VR live surgery” in MR division.
The introduction of the AI-based voice recognition treatment system is expected to provide a turning point in the medical industry, the university said in a press release. When the university introduces “Medical Speech Recognition System,” it will make a database of patients' medical information and provide big data as the basis for the analysis of medical information.
It will use SK Telecom's speech recognition engine for continuous testing and in-depth learning of medical terminology to provide high-quality services.
The IoT-based “integrated care guide” will provide customer convenience throughout the process from hospital admission to discharge. The university will use IoT technology to guide the destination of the hospital, the exact waiting time and the examination time, minimizing the unnecessary waiting time for patients and introducing mobile payment service using smartphones.
The university hospital said it would continue to develop and apply various IoT services, to create the best medical center in Korea with state-of-the-art facilities and services, aiming to launch it during the first half of 2017.
Systems that use incremental and virtual reality technologies are also noteworthy. In particular, the “360-degree Virtual Reality Live Surgery” can utilize SK Telecom's "T Real VR Platform" to conduct major operations in Korea University Medical Center’s three hospitals, allowing access to practical surgical information without restrictions on time and space.
"As the living standards improve thanks to the development of science and technology, the patient’s level of health has improved as well,” said Kim Hyo-myung김효명, medical director of Korea University Anam Hospital. “It is necessary to constantly change and innovate ourselves to provide patient-oriented healthcare services and become a leading medical institution.”
SK Telecom also expressed high expectations for the joint project.
"There are various movements across industries to adapt to the changing trends of the recent industrial revolution,” said Cha In-hyok차인혁, head of IoT Business at SK Telecom. "Based on SK Telecom's core technology competencies such as AI, IoT, and VR, our the company will continue to develop to be able to lead innovative changes in medical services.”