Agreement between Chile and Japan will allow transmission of surgeries using 5G technology

This is an automated translation of the original release published in Spanish.

Subtel press release

Santiago, January 16, 2023.-

With the presence of Marcelo Rute, Undersecretary (acting) of Telecommunications, the Japanese ambassador to Chile, Kazuhisa Shibuya, representatives of the Arturo López Pérez Foundation (FALP) and the companies NTT DATA and ALLM, signed a cooperation agreement today to implement a pilot project for the installation and start-up, at FALP premises, of a local 5G network for the live transmission of a surgery in real time, a pioneering project as it is the first of this type to be carried out in Latin America.

The objective of this pilot is to show the scope that the development of the 5G network will have, in addition to the benefits that it will bring to users, such as the development of Telemedicine that will allow remote treatments and diagnoses, allowing users to avoid travelling kilometers in search of care with a specialist. It also seeks to install a system that allows testing the effectiveness of the 5G network in the transmission of various surgeries in high resolution, for academic purposes for students, doctors and the care of specialists in highly complex surgeries in remote areas.

This milestone was achieved with the installation and configuration of the 5G technology equipment by NTT DATA, and the use of the "JOIN" software developed by ALLM, through which video transmission is carried out in real time.

Thanks to the execution of this type of project, new opportunities open up to take full advantage of the benefits of the 5G network by combining it with other cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence or virtual reality. In the future, the projection implies the creation of an educational platform, which will allow teaching medical students, performing collaborative remote surgeries and using artificial intelligence for surgical education.

Marcelo Rute, Undersecretary (acting) of Telecommunications, highlighted during the signing ceremony that “there is a need to bring the use of technologies to the extension of the territories. Not only the enabling of technologies, but that they mean a contribution to people. In this case, we are very enthusiastic about the value of this project for health, for access to services and the democratization of technologies”.

Likewise, Inti Paredes, FALP Medical Informatics and Data Science Chief Medical Officer, stated that “this is a project that arises with the purpose of testing how the mobile connection can be used in medicine. Broadcasting surgeries live so that trainee surgeons and their team can view them from a fixed or mobile device, securely and protecting patient data, will contribute to the training of specialists. There are few complex surgeries that can be accessed when one is studying, being able with this technology to see a varied number of oncological surgical interventions of different complexity live or delayed and interact with the surgical team. We believe that it will become an essential solution for continuous training in surgery for health teams, anywhere in Chile and the world.”

For his part, the CEO of NTT DATA, Adolfo Cuenca, pointed out that “we are deeply proud to be part of such an important milestone for Chile and Latin America, where we contribute all our technological knowledge and capabilities for the development of this pilot. This pioneering project means sharing knowledge, making access to knowledge and treatment options available to more people. It is the first step so that in the future we can facilitate the development of medicine, learning and why not, remote treatments, directly impacting millions of people.”

Meanwhile, the representative of ALLM Chile, Gonzalo Vargas, Head of Operations, stressed that “technological progress in the health area is growing rapidly worldwide. Remote surgeries and live transmission of complex operations for educational or professional assistance purposes are gradually becoming a reality through projects as important as this one, which also allow professionals from countries as far away as Chile and Japan to be connected.”

During the coming months the pilot will be developed transmitting various surgeries and carrying out different transmission tests. With all this information it will be possible to have a feasibility evaluation for future projects at the national level.