*By Gustavo Marui
The fifth generation of mobile telephony, 5G, is finally under way here in Brazil. It is, in fact, the trigger for expected and unexpected changes needed in various sectors, through applications that will be enabled in the wake of the high connection speed it provides. The health area is already moving to explore the full potential of technology.
The expectation is great because 5G brings many advances when compared to 4G. We can mention 3 main advantages, they are:
- Ability to communicate with a greater number of devices simultaneously. While 4G supports around 10,000 devices per kilometer, the 5G network supports over 1 million devices per kilometer;
- Response time between 1 and 10 milliseconds with 5G, due to its low latency. In the case of 4G, the interval is 50 milliseconds;
- Maximum download speed can reach 10,000 Mbps on the 5G network, which is 10 times faster than on 4G.
But, after all, what will these advances bring to health? A multitude of innovations.
revolution in medicine
This is because the health sector has become one of the segments in which state-of-the-art innovations are applied in remote diagnosis solutions, process automation, devices with very high image resolution and diagnostic accuracy, which drastically reduce the possibility of errors and thus obtain more efficiency, increasing the quality of medical treatment.
But with 5G, the sector will experience a true revolution with high-tech solutions for medicine, providing more agility, precision and capillarity to the sector. There is already talk of surgical centers working with interconnected sensors and equipment, which make it possible to share information and clinical analyzes in real time in a safe way.
The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) concept will be boosted with the application of disruptive technologies. When combined with artificial intelligence and machine learning, it will make preventive medicine even more accurate and personalized. Who wins? The patient and companies in the health ecosystem with cost reduction, supported by data intelligence.
Telemedicine services will be popularized and clinical and laboratory procedures will gain more efficiency. High-precision medicine, virtual reality and advances in robotic surgery, advanced electronic medical records, digitized histories, fully supported self-care, accessible testing will transform the industry.
We will have the best patient experience in their care journey. Monitoring since your arrival at the hospital, consultation and exams. In an emergency situation, ambulances will be connected to the emergency care units, enabling the immediate preparation of the team to assist the patient even before his arrival.
The democratization of genetic mapping will be another big step. Low-cost genetic tests could guarantee a much longer and healthier life for the entire population. We are going to evolve to a look that is, in fact, centered on the patient.
How to accelerate the journey to 5G?
There are accelerators for 5G, without losing focus on the business, that is, private 5G network solutions as a service. In this way, companies can adopt robust 5G architectures, without the need for high initial investments and with full support for infrastructure management.
I actively work on these projects and it has been very rewarding, from consulting to understanding customer needs and proposing a use case, to implementing the 5G architecture and delivering the devices that make up the solution. The results go beyond technology and involve the humanization of care, the speed and accuracy of diagnosis, in a universe where saving time means saving lives.
The democratization of health
A great expectation with 5G is the democratization of access to health. But for that it is necessary to unite efforts and skills. The good news is that this future is already starting to take shape today, through the formation of diversified ecosystems, with partnerships between health institutions, technology, telecommunications operators, forming strong alliances to enable innovations.
It is very likely that with the democratization of access to the public network of exams, teleconsultation and a series of procedures in an easier way, we will have cost reductions and better follow-up both for those who offer the service and for those who receive it. It's Digital Health being designed on a journey that will transform medicine for the next decade.
*Gustavo Marui, specialist in Health Technology at Logicalis
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