Bharti Airtel, the second-largest telecom operator in the country, has announced that it partnered with Apollo Hospitals and Cisco to create a 5G connected ambulance which transforms access to healthcare and saves lives in emergency situations. The companies conducted this demonstration in Bengaluru with the 5G spectrum that was allotted to Bharti Airtel by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for 5G trials. The 5G connected ambulance was custom designed and equipped with the latest medical equipment, patient monitoring systems, and telemetry devices for transmitting the patient data to the hospital in real-time.
5G Connected Ambulance Brings Doctor Virtually to the Ambulance
A patient in a critical condition needs every second he/she can get in his/her favour. At such a time, a 5G network connected ambulance can make a lot of difference as it enables the doctor to reach out and examine the patient virtually inside the ambulance. ER doctors can help the paramedics in the ambulance with the AR/VR technology powered by 5G networks as the feed shared to the doctors by the network is very much real in time. Ambulances can stay connected to the hospital with the power of high-bandwidth and low-latency 5G networks. Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO of Airtel Business, said healthcare is one of the most promising use cases of 5G and that Airtel is delighted to partner with Cisco and Apollo Hospitals to bring innovative use cases to the Indian market. It is worth noting that this is not an entirely new use case. Vodafone Idea (Vi) had already showcased this particular use case to the media in a special event conducted in Pune in November 2021. Regardless of which company showcased the use-case first, the important thing is the technology that can save lives. The faster doctors can reach out to critical patients and diagnose them, the more chances they have to live.
