NSTDA and Thammasat University Hospital have signed an MOU for the R&D collaboration on digital healthcare to support the transition into smart hospital. The partnership was announced by NSTDA President Dr. Narong Sirilertworakul and Hospital Director Dr. Pharuhat Tor-Udom.
In his remarks, Dr. Narong gave examples of NSTDA innovation and solutions in healthcare sector that developed by Assistive Technology and Medical Devices Center (A-MED), MTEC and NECTEC, some of which have been developed or tested in collaboration with Thammasat University Hospital. These innovations include a dental scanner DentiiScan, a digital chest radiography system BodiiRay S, a positioning device setting patients in a beach chair position for shoulder surgery and a multi-people temperature screening system μTherm.
According to Dr. Pharuhat, the 741-bed hospital provides outpatient, inpatient and emergency services in all areas and accepts referrals from other hospitals. In 2020, the hospital had an average 5,392 outpatient visits/day and 71% inpatient bed occupancy.
NSTDA and the hospital are currently developing a prototype device to track the locations of medical devices within the hospital building using an Indoor Localization System with Bluetooth Low Energy (UNAI) platform and monitor energy consumption in order to design medical device utilization management system. The two parties plan to add more projects into the collaboration and expect to bring these innovative solutions to members of the University Hospital Network (UHosNet) and eventually to market.