Rarely do we hear beyond India and Japan in Asia-Pacific health tech. But here comes Thailand with the Saensuk Smart City developed with prestigious partners Dell and Intel Microelectronic (Thailand)
Saensuk is a Thai municipality with 46,000 registered local residents, 15 percent of whom are 65+, as well as a touristic area around the Bangsaen beach. The Smart City is a three-year public-private partnership with the first aim of supporting older people in their homes through IoT-powered applications including health monitoring (RPM) of vital signs, fall detection, emergency notifications, environmental monitoring and safety tracking.The targeted number for the pilot is between 30 and 150 homes in the initial phase. Residents, for instance, are given a smartwatch that alerts for falls and also conveys information at entry into the program. Intel-based systems from Dell aggregate and analyze the large amounts of health data generated daily.
Visiting nurses, fairly common in Thailand, no longer have to make their patients wait months for a visit or an opening. Instead they use telehealth devices to stay in touch with their patients, and can access more conveniently patients’ medical history and visit data. Cost savings from this program will roll over into other Smart City programs
The pilot is part of the Digital Thailand initiative, with contributions from the Thai Embedded Systems Association (TESA), Burapha University, BAESLab and CAT Telecom. It started in January and is expected to be supported through 2018. The later phase is centered on the tourist area at the beach to monitor visitor safety and a tourism information system for older people. Dell release, Bangkok Post
So when you get to it, the numbers on the project are tiny: “between 30 and 150 homes in the initial phase”. In some ways it reminds me of the enthusiasm that launched the UK’s Whole System Demonstrator programme… was that 10 years ago already?… I wonder if the Dell and Intel folks have learned any lessons from it? Or were they still at school in those days?
Oh, and while I’m reminiscing, what became of ‘3 million lives’?