China starts mapping standards for 5G-based hospitals

BEIJING -- Key Chinese hospitals, leading telecom carriers and Huawei Wednesday launched a project to establish standards for 5G-based networks in hospitals.

The project is under the guidance of the National Health Commission (NHC) and is led by the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, the National Telemedicine and Connected Health Center and the Primary-care Telemedicine Development Directory Center.

More than 30 leading hospitals, the China Association of Medical Equipment, three major telecom carriers and Huawei jointly launched the project.

With the establishment of the standards, 5G, as the infrastructure of primary medical informatization, will be used to accelerate the construction of "Internet plus medical health" and enhance primary medical services, said Nie Chunlei, head of the department of primary health of the NHC.

In the process of integrating 5G with various industries, the medical industry has the greatest potential applications and the strongest demand for 5G, said Liu Ying, general manager of the government and enterprise department of China Telecom.

The standards will speed up the digitization of the medical and health industry, said Zhang Wenlin, president of Huawei's corporate strategy department.

Based on 5G indoor solutions, Huawei, together with its partners, have built more than 100 5G plus medical demonstration sites, with the remote coverage facilitating commercial services including consultation, outpatient and image diagnosis, Zhang said.