After being closed for two weeks due to confirmed COVID-19 cases, two hospitals in Shanghai announced Thursday to end their closed-loop management period next week and reopen to the public.
5G network and other communication technologies played an important role in helping the hospitals tide over difficulties during the closed-loop management period.
After the resurgence of sporadic COVID-19 cases in Shanghai in late January, the Xuhui branch of Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center and the west branch of Renji Hospital started closed-loop management since the workplace of some confirmed cases was related to the two hospitals.
Closed-loop management is meant to curb the spread of the virus as soon as possible without paralyzing the normal operations of the hospitals. With guaranteed 5G and 4G networks and innovative 5G applications, thousands of people in the hospitals lead a normal life and work without disruption.
A 6-meter-high antenna rose in the Xuhui branch of Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center on Jan. 29, with an emergency communication vehicle operating at full capacity to ensure reliable 4G and 5G signals in the closed hospital.
With over 6,000 people quarantined in the hospital and each building put under closed-loop management, the communication among various departments of the hospital, as well as between the patients and their families, is more dependent on 4G and 5G signals.
The online visit service provided by the ICU of the hospital for patients' family members and the livestreaming of some doctors to answer patients' questions are all in urgent need of a stable communication network.
Mobile signals used to get jammed during the night in the closed hospital because patients would video chat with their family members. Since the antenna was put up, the video chats became smooth.
In Renji Hospital, the 5G network has even helped doctors in quarantine provide remote consultation to patients elsewhere.
Shanghai is a city with quality medical resources and many patients with complex diseases from across China go there to seek treatment.
Ma Xiong, the chief physician of the Gastroenterology Department of Renji Hospital, not only serves patients in Shanghai but also practices in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province. After the closed-loop management, nearly 400 patient visits of Ma would get delayed.
On the morning of Jan. 26, Ma checked the CT images and laboratory reports of patients in Ningbo through 5G network while being quarantined in a hotel in Shanghai. Along with local doctors in the Ningbo branch of Renji Hospital, Ma worked out online a thorough treatment plan for patients.
Mou Shan, executive dean of the Ningbo branch of Renji Hospital, said that the remote medical service can effectively allocate high-quality medical resources, making medical experts and patients meet "face to face" within the shortest time.
