The ambulance doesn't work! "Traffic jam city" Bangkok The trump card for emergency medical care is November 11 21:16
It is no exaggeration to say that everyone who has been to Bangkok for sightseeing or business has experienced at least once, the intense traffic jams in the center of the city. Many of you may have had a cold stomach to make it to your scheduled flight.
This scene, which appears every day during the morning and evening rush hours, is a life-threatening problem for patients at the emergency scene, where every minute counts.
What if we get injured or get sick there? I was closely involved in the movement to solve various medical issues in the region in a certain way. (Neil Kato, Asia Bureau)
"Smart ambulance" introduced at the scene of an emergency
"There is an ambulance in Bangkok that incorporates new technology." After hearing these stories, I went to Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, which is one of the largest hospitals in Thailand. The vehicle is called a "smart ambulance", but at first glance, it is no different from a regular ambulance.
What's the difference? Its distinctive feature is two cameras mounted on the ceiling inside the ambulance. The images of the patients being transported by this camera can be shared in real time with specialists in the hospital.
Data such as the patient's heartbeat, blood pressure, and blood oxygen level are also instantly sent to the hospital, and the necessary measures can be instructed to the emergency team remotely from the destination hospital even before the patient arrives. It also helps hospitals prepare for emergency surgeries in advance, he said.
Telemedicine is the key to combating traffic congestion
Why was these ambulances introduced? The reason for this is traffic congestion, which has become a social problem in the capital city of Bangkok.
The number of cars driving in Bangkok is increasing year by year with economic growth, but the improvement of the road environment has not kept up. Especially during the rainy season, roads are often flooded, and if you get stuck in traffic during the evening rush hour, you will often get stuck.
There have been many times when I myself have been there and have not been able to arrive after more than an hour, even though I was going to a place that was only a few minutes away by car.
Traffic jams are life-threatening in the emergency department, where every minute counts. Three of these "smart ambulances" are in operation at the hospitals we interviewed, and the Thai government wants to expand the introduction of these ambulances in Bangkok while verifying their effectiveness.
The person in charge of the hospital that currently operates the ambulance says that telemedicine is the biggest key to solving the challenges in the field of emergency medicine, where it takes a long time to transport.
"If we can start the right treatment as soon as possible, we will not only increase the chances of saving the patient's life, but also prevent sequelae in the case of patients with diseases related to the heart and brain. It will make it safer to save many people's lives."
Challenges in rural areas are perinatal care
Telemedicine in Thailand is being used not only in urban areas but also in rural areas. The next clinic I visited was a clinic in the mountains of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, close to the border with Laos. Even though it is a clinic, there is no doctor on duty, and only two nurses are on duty.
In rural areas of Thailand, the medical system remains vulnerable due to a shortage of doctors, and one of the challenges is perinatal care.
According to UNICEF, the maternal mortality rate is about seven times higher than in Japan (7) and about six times higher than in Japan (2020).
Chiang Rai, which I visited, is one of them. There are only about 6 obstetricians and gynecologists for the entire population of the region of about 2021.1 million. Moreover, most of them are located in hospitals in the center of the city. The nurse at the clinic I visited said that there is no system to provide adequate perinatal care in the mountainous area.
Radawan Monpichai, a nurse at a clinic in the mountains of Chiang Rai, said
, "[At the clinic], all we had to do was check the length of pregnancy, the weight and height of the pregnant woman, and the heartbeat of the fetus.
A device from Japan that enables remote prenatal checkups
Therefore, in 2022, a medical device was introduced to conduct medical examinations for pregnant women remotely. It was developed by a start-up company from Kagawa University in Japan.
Sized enough to hold in one hand, this device can be applied to the tummy of a pregnant woman to obtain detailed data on the tension of the stomach and the heartbeat of the fetus. The data is stored in the cloud as it is and sent to doctors at a base hospital about 40 kilometers away through a communication app.
After seeing this data, the doctor at the hospital communicates the results of the checkup and advice on how to spend the time until childbirth to the nurse at the clinic over the phone, and the feedback is provided to the patient. It is said that regular checkups can quickly identify and respond to signs of risk of premature birth.
According to the company that developed the device, it is more compact and portable than the medical equipment usually used in prenatal checkups, and it is characterized by simplified operation, and the measurement results can be shared as data instead of paper, which makes it possible to perform telemedicine.
A system that allows anyone, anywhere to receive prenatal checkups
I was able to talk to a woman who came to the clinic and was expecting her first child the following month. By seeing a specialist, she says she has been able to feel safe even during her first birth.
A woman who
underwent a health checkup using telemedicine said, "I was worried about giving birth because the specialized hospital is too far from here and it is expensive, but I am happy to know that with this device, I can hear the sound of my child's heartbeat, and I know that it is growing up safely and smoothly."
In Chiang Rai, which we interviewed for this article, the device is still in the trial introduction stage, so the introduction of the device is limited to five medical institutions, but the company that developed the device wants to expand the telemedicine system by holding training sessions to learn how to use it in cooperation with local governments and medical professionals.
Manager Tatsuya Kanbara
: "There are many areas where regular prenatal checkups are not available due to a shortage of doctors and hospitals, and I hope that the number of prenatal checkups will increase as more and more pregnant women go to clinics to hear their baby's heartbeat because of this kind of device. We want to expand it not only to Thailand, but also to other countries in Asia and Africa where access to healthcare is vulnerable."
How will telemedicine change people's lives?
An indispensable part of such telemedicine is a communication network that can exchange data. In Thailand, high-speed 2020G communications began in 5, and in response to the spread of the new coronavirus, the development of <>G has accelerated due to the growing demand for various services performed remotely.
It is said that the use of "smart ambulances" introduced at the beginning of this article is only possible due to the spread of such communication infrastructure.
With a population of about 6600 million, Thailand faces the challenges of a rapidly aging population, in addition to traffic congestion in urban areas and access to healthcare in rural areas. The Thai government is actively using technologies such as telemedicine, AI, and robotics as a trump card to solve the mounting social problems.
With the spread of telecommunications networks, we will continue to pay attention to how new technologies will change the lives of people and the medical field in Southeast Asian countries, which continue to grow economically.
(Broadcast on November 11 "Oha Biz")
Asia Bureau, Reporter
Neil KatoJoined
in 2010, Shizuoka Bureau, Osaka Bureau, Economic Department,
Past Affiliation