China Telecom's 5G Supports World's First Remote Control Robot Orthopedic Surgery

A robot orthopedic surgery was performed by three hospitals through a remote control system using fast and stable 5G internet on June 27, a world's first.

The three hospitals were Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, the Second Hospital of Jiaxing in Zhejiang province and Yantaishan Hospital of Yantai in Shandong province.

China Telecom's 5G internet and Huawei's telecommunication technology offered stable and reliable support to the operation.

The success of the surgery confirms that application of China's 5G-based telemedicine and artificial intelligence have stepped onto a new stage.

It was also a milestone in the promotion of the hierarchical medical system and construction of Wise Information Technology 120 (WIT120) in China.

During the surgery, the signal transmission was fluent and stable, which showed 5G's typical features of high speed, large-scale connection and low delay.

Medical robot technology has been rapidly developed in recent years and the fast and stable transmitted HD 4K video makes it possible to use robotics in operations in remote areas.

Tian Wei, president of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital and chief development scientist of Tianji Orthopedic Surgery Robots, participated in the surgery.

He said that the success of the operation signals that remote surgery by intelligent robots has entered the stage of clinical application, which will improve medical service quality and promote homogenization of medical technology.

Tian explained that different from the traditional surgery which was done with consultation and guidance through remote video, this time the surgery was realized through 5G technology and was done in real-time.

"5G plus" will relieve the uneven medical resource distribution in China, allowing more patients to obtain high quality medical treatment.

China Telecom will push forward "5G plus cloud network integration" to build an information infrastructure with Chinese characteristics, through which it will be able to provide its partners with one-stop purchase, easy delivery and end-to-end maintenance.

In terms of ecological construction, China Telecom, together with its partners, will continue to adhere to opening-up and cooperation and joint innovation and construction of the 5G service mode to promote the development of industrial chains, and to share 5G research achievements with a focus on the most critical matters.

(Executive editor: Hao Wen)