AIS fully supports Thai healthy society, joining state, private and public sectors to revive the nation as it continues to fight 3rd wave of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to batter confidence among the general public and industry. While data usage has grown 30 percent as a result of changed consumer behaviour, overall, the telecom sector has grown only slightly.
The path of AIS remains committed to applying the power of 5G to support public health work, whether through expanding the 5G network or the Robot for Care innovation, creating a new method for social distancing to alleviate the burdens and reduce the risk for medical teams working on the front line in hospitals nationwide.
The company has even piloted Digital Yacht Quarantine, a new form of quarantine using NB-IoT and smart wristbands, and has also been assisting Village Health Volunteers (VHV), who have had a key role in containing the spread of infection, and boosting the efficiency of public health infrastructure, through the Or Sor Mor Online application.
AIS, led by CEO Somchai Lertsutiwong, will continue to mobilise the forces of the government sector, the private sector and the general public in combination to support the work of the public health sector to overcome this crisis. It is ready to “connect” everything, whether the business sector or partners, and give support to the Thai public health sector to give efficient assistance amid the crisis for Thai people. This is done through the entire potential of the company, whether networks, innovations or personnel, getting into every area of assistance and every competitive niche. Forces are being assembled to revive the country by working with communications technology and digital services in four aspects as follows:
- Field hospitals: Installing AIS 5G, 4G and free Wi-Fi networks in over 31 field hospitals totalling over 10,000 beds nationwide, for medical personnel to work to their full efficiency. For instance, connecting CCTV systems to monitor patients, transmitting medical data, and enabling patients in quarantine to communicate and make contact to alleviate concerns and get the support to recover their health.
- Telemedicine is a technology to reduce the burdens on doctors and nurses in communicating with patients to reduce contact and overcrowding. This has been initiated with the Me-More application, providing services at field hospitals in Bangkok.
- 5G Smart AI is a collaboration with the Chulabhorn Research Institute and its affiliated hospitals: Nan Hospital, Roi Et Hospital and Phetchabun Hospital. Artificial Intelligence (AI) analyses lung CT scan X-ray images quantitatively to diagnose people infected with COVID-19. AI solutions run on a platform which has been trained with data from real patients in China. The processing and analysis is accurate and rapid, and can analyse a case in just 25 seconds, with an accuracy rate in the diagnosis of 96%, which is highly efficient. This innovation assists medical personnel to be safe, reduces examinations of patients’ effluvia, and reduces the use of COVID test kits. This helps to reduce the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and alleviate the burden on medical personnel, enabling a large number of them to spread out to treat more patients more thoroughly. Most importantly, it is clearly creating equality in public health outcomes through 5G.
- VHV: AIS continues to enhance the capabilities of Village Health Volunteers (VHV), of which there are currently more than 500,000, through the Or Sor Mor Online application. This helps to report, screen, monitor and follow up results among risk groups. It includes surveys of mental health from COVID-19-induced stress, particularly in the period after Songkran when many city dwellers returned home, which required the work of the VHV to be more intensive than ever before.
The third wave of this pandemic is more severe than previous occasions. AIS alone cannot overcome it, and it must rely on cooperation from every sector to revive the nation, whether government, private or the general public. Cooperation must be sincere, and based on solidarity of purpose to fight and adapt, and create the immunity to prevent further waves in the future.
Somchai concluded by saying, “Private sector organisations with the strength must show that strength in assisting the country and the general public. Big fish should help little fish, rather than eat them. I’d like organisations still with power to help smaller players and give them space to grow. Don’t stop self-development in applying technology to boost productivity. AIS is determined to use its AIS 5G network to connect and assist every Thai person.”