Category Archives: Health

Bringing Intelligence to Medical Devices and Machines

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the science and engineering of creating machines or computer programs that can sense, reason, act, and adapt to come up with solutions for problems. As this definition shows, AI in itself is not a solution but rather a set of methods from which solutions can be developed.

Amongst the benefits of AI is its ability to imitate human cognitive behavior by analyzing data and its surroundings, solving or anticipating problems and self-learning to adapt to a variety of tasks.

Globally, healthcare systems are facing various challenges. This includes an ever-increasing aging population[1], escalating healthcare costs, operational inefficiencies, staff shortage, value-based reimbursements, higher percentage of deaths accounting to chronic illness, as well as an annual wastage of up to $750 billion on healthcare as seen in the United States alone. Against the background of these challenges, healthcare is also undergoing rapid digitalization.

For example, over the past decade, there has been an increase in growth of computational power, while the cost of data storage has dropped dramatically. As a result, the amount and quality of stored digital medical data has increased tremendously. However, there is a growing concern in healthcare that only a fraction of this data is being used to improve the quality and efficiency of care. The growth rate and diversity of medical data has far outpaced our ability to analyze it.

Recognizing this, Philips has developed intelligent solutions using these data and information on hand to help healthcare providers achieve improved health outcomes at a lower cost, while providing better staff and patient experience.

Philips Redesigning Medical Technology for Better

Philips offers a broad spectrum of solutions that spans the health continuum, from healthy living and prevention to diagnosis, treatment and home care; especially supported by its deep understanding in clinical needs, workflows, and regulations, as well as departmental and hospital workflows.

Spending approximately EUR 1.8 billion annually on R&D, innovation[2] is core to Philips’ growth strategy in health technology. In recent years, Philips has significantly improved its research in software and data science and today, almost one in every two of Philips’ R&D professionals focuses on the field of health technology.

On top of working closely with clinical partners across the globe – healthcare providers, academia, and hospital networks, Philips is among the top 5 healthcare IT companies with approximately EUR 3 billion in healthcare IT-related sales and has successfully developed the Philips HealthSuite Platforms, a digital framework that connects consumers, patients and healthcare providers in a cloud-based health ecosystem of devices, apps and tools.

Philips IntelliSpace Discovery offers an integrated AI solution that enables the entire process of generating new AI applications, providing data integration, training and deployment in the research setting.

Recognizing that public trust is paramount and understanding that health data is among the most sensitive types of personal data, Philips takes the growing risk of cybersecurity threats to its products very seriously. Security plans encompass people, processes and technology, with the goal of ensuring the confidentiality, integrity and availability of critical data and the systems that house that data.

How AI Can Help

Over the next decade, smart systems will be able to aggregate information from multiple sources that currently remain trapped in silos. For example, each individual patient’s data will be pulled together from the systems that are used in his/her GP surgery, hospital or specialist center, such as different Electronic Medical Records, diagnostic and monitoring solutions.

Today, slowly but surely, ASEAN countries are adopting AI and its elements to ensure systematic and efficient workflow within the healthcare industries.

Here is a quick look on how Philips is applying AI to address the challenges within healthcare industry:

  • Clinical informatics & decision supportPhilips IntelliSpace Portal offers an advanced visual analysis and quantification platform that uses machine learning to learn about the clinician’s workflow. It then automatically configures the system to apply the appropriate processing to specific types of studies to speed up their analysis.
  • Acute care – Philips IntelliVue Guardian System with Early Warning Scoring (EWS) aids in identifying subtle signs of deterioration in a general floor patient’s condition at the point of care. IntelliVue Guardian automated EWS helps to reduce ICU transfers and readmissions, and adverse events.
  • Home care – Philips CareSage, a predictive analytics technology that helps prevent avoidable hospital admissions and emergency room visits among the frail and elderly and DreamMapper, a mobile app that allows people with sleep apnea to track their therapy progress so they can take an active role in their therapy. It is designed to quickly correlate data on therapy usage, mask fit and apnea hypopnea index (AHI) readings to help improve treatment success.

[1] www.nia.nih.gov/research/publication/global-health-and-aging/preface. Published October 2011. Updated January 22, 2015. Accessed August 1, 2015.

[2]https://www.philips.com/a-w/about/news/archive/standard/news/press/2018/20181108-philips-provides-update-on-performance-and-value-creation-journey-at-capital-markets-day-in-amsterdam.html

[COVID-19] Australia is Next in Launching COVID-19 Contact Tracing App

About two weeks ago, a certain Cupertino based firm and a Mountain View tech giant decided to team up to create something that the world really needs. Apple and Google have decided that they are collaborating to create a framework for contact tracing apps. Singapore responded soon after with a contact tracing app that they are distributing in their own region, ‘TraceTogether’ they call it.

Source: ABC Australia

Following that is Australia, launching their own COVIDSafe app on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The app is based on Singapore’s TraceTogether app, which is fundamentally is a voluntary app for users. Basically, the app will allow your device to communicate with other smartphone devices within a certain radius, a sort of “digital handshake”.

It uses your device’s Bluetooth data to trace proximity with another person. Once that is established, the app cross checks your contact list and its own servers to identify infected persons. The app will then notify users if they have been in contact with an infected person for longer than 15 minutes.

There are some security concerns over this of course. You are allowing your smartphone to share its contact information with a server and another device via Bluetooth, which is less than ideal. Still, it will only share these data when you allow the app to do so. The app will also ask for your consent to share your data if you are an infected person or if you have been infected. There are also concerns about more data being shared out with external parties and governments.

Department of Health (Australia)

The Australian government have dismissed that claims and assured its people that the app, though public and open in nature, is secure and save. Any technology that could help with the fight against COVID-19 is a welcome addition after all.

Germany is on a different approach to contact tracing though. Like Google and Apple’s approach to contact tracing, they are prioritising a little bit more privacy. Instead of storing data in a centralised sever, the app will store data only on its devices. We have not seen any implementations on that just yet though, including Google and Apple’s attempt. We should see it soon, and we are quite excited.

For now, we can only wait and see if the app helps or not. Although, in the case of Malaysia, the Movement Control Order has helped with the local efforts in the fight against the virus. Do we still need the app then? What do you think? Let us know in the comments section.

Source: Department of Health (Australia), Engadget

Is Privacy Our Sole Concern With Contact Tracing Technology?

This week the Guardian reported an alleged ‘standoff’ between the NHSX (the digital innovation arm of the NHS) and tech giants Google and Apple regarding the deployment of contact tracing technology aimed at curbing the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The debate is on two predominant issues; first, the base technology to be used and second, how the data will be stored.

Sidestepping the first issue which sees Google and Apple aiming to implement their feature directly on a device’s operating system while the NHSX version requires a downloadable dedicated application, this article will focus on the issue of privacy arising from the second issue.

In essence, Apple and Google have insisted that if there is to be any collaboration between the NHSX and them for the purposes of contact tracing the storage of all data will have to be decentralised. The NHSX, on the other hand, is pushing for centralised storage of data.

What’s the difference?

Before deciding on one system or another, it’s best to understand the basics of the distinction between these systems.

A centralised system has a single storage point and controller of the data collected. The central controller of the data may grant access to other users but remains ultimately responsible for the system as a whole. A centralized system is relatively easy to set up and can be developed quickly. Such a system is very useful where continuous modifications to the parameters of the system are expected or where the use of the data needs to be adapted for different purposes.

In contrast, a decentralised system has multiple controllers of data all of whom collect and store copies of the data on their respective systems. This system allows for quicker access to data and less risk of downtime as a fault with one controller will not necessarily affect the others.

The third form known as a distributed system in which there is no single central owner at all and instead gives collective ownership and control to each user on the network is unlikely to be used by either party.

Each system has its advantages and disadvantages and to make a decision between a centralised and a decentralised system the NHS and the tech giants will need to take into consideration a range of issues including:-

  1. The overall effectiveness of the technology;
  2. The adaptability of the system to the shifting demands of research;
  3. The cost of deployment and maintenance;
  4. Whether or not the system is a security risk for the user;
  5. Whether there are compliance concerns.

Why is a decentralised system so important?

Google and Apple have been clear that the reason for a proposed decentralised system is to avoid the risk of mass government surveillance presently or in the future. This is a genuine concern as the data being collected will be directly related to a user’s location and medical history. Although not absent from criticism, this position is the preferred option and has been supported by academics and numerous civil rights groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union. 

Still, the European position is split with the seven governments supporting the project known as the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT) which proposes a centralised repository of data and a growing following for the Decentralised Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (DP-3T) advocating a decentralised system.

The NHS itself may not be intent on surveillance however being publicly funded draws immediate speculation to its government links. In addition, both the NHS and the UK government have had a poor record of handling large scale IT projects such as the failed £11bn National Programme for IT, scrapped in 2011 and the plans for a paperless NHS by 2018 which could not even take off.

What about the NHS position?

Unfortunately, the focus on privacy risks coupled with the NHS’s bad track record in the field of technology projects have detracted from the core issue at hand – What does the NHS need right now to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus?

Ross Anderson, an advisor to the NHS on its contact tracing application highlighted the problem with a decentralised system:-

…on the systems front, decentralised systems are all very nice in theory but are a complete pain in practice as they’re too hard to update. We’re still using Internet infrastructure from 30 years ago (BGP, DNS, SMTP…) because it’s just too hard to change… Relying on cryptography tends to make things even more complex, fragile and hard to change. In the pandemic, the public health folks may have to tweak all sorts of parameters weekly or even daily. You can’t do that with apps on 169 different types of phone and with peer-to-peer communications.

(https://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2020/04/12/contact-tracing-in-the-real-world/)

The Covid-19 virus took approximately 2 months to infect 100,000 UK residents and the spread has shown few signs of a slowing infection rate. Time is critical in this situation and correspondingly, flexibility in adapting to the constantly changing nature of the infection is a necessity. Decentralised systems do not allow for rapid evolution.

In addition, we should consider that unlike centralised systems, decentralised systems are often unencrypted. While trying to prevent a government from carrying out surveillance, the Google and Apple system may inadvertently open itself up to more security problems than expected. In fact, they have themselves admitted this risk stating that nothing is “unhackable”.     

As a second consideration, the API that Google and Apple will release will likely have strict limitations on the type of data that may be collected. For example, the NHS would not be able to gather a list of every person a user has been in contact with based on user proximity. Instead, it will utilise a more manual version of contact tracing involving sending every phone in the system a list of other phones that have been reported as contagious, and asking the user whether they have “seen this user” Such a system relies heavily on user verification which is often incorrect or simply disregarded.

Key location data which may be used for developing population flow maps and anticipating the further spread of the virus will likely not be made available under Google and Apple’s current proposal. It is also important to note that data from contact tracing could be used beyond the scope of curbing the spread of the virus i.e. for decisions on directing the flow of emergency aid, development of temporary healthcare facilities, deployment of healthcare equipment and personnel.   

What has been going on elsewhere?

Contrasting the UK’s situation, the Asian experience, having less stringent data protection regulations, have taken remarkably different approaches to Europe in general.

Hong Kong, for example, introduced the mandatory use of an electronic wristband connected to a smartphone application to enforce quarantine for arrivals from overseas. Users refusing to adopt this requirement are refused entry into the country.

South Korea won praise for both tracking and publishing data relating to affected person’s travel routes and affected areas, the data being collected through the government’s application as well as numerous independent applications. Residents also receive numerous location-based emergency messages and are not allowed to opt-out of this function.

China’s measures, which have come under considerable question, see a private entity collaboration through the Alipay Health Code. Citizens are given a ‘traffic light’ status that determines the restrictions that will be imposed on them. Although the exact basis for determining a person’s status is not known the status has widespread application including restriction of access to certain public facilities and payment systems.

Privacy concerns of these measures aside, all these countries have seen a considerable reduction in the spread of the Covid-19 virus. While it would be premature to suggest that this is solely attributable to the contact tracing measures implemented there is no doubt that the quick and extensive deployment of the technology has contributed to the battle against the virus’ spread which begs the question:

Is privacy getting in the way?

In 1890, Brandais and Wallace, pioneers of modern day privacy wrote:-

…To determine in advance of experience the exact line at which the dignity and convenience of the individual must yield to the demands of the public welfare or of private justice would be a difficult task…

The UK and indeed Europe are at this juncture and need to decide on the cost of the compromise as the death toll and infection rate continue to increase. History reminds us that the greatest privacy and surveillance violations occurred when the world was focused on a raging war and in fact it is times like this that we must be most vigilant about rights.    

Facebook Looks to Help Track COVID-19 Spread with Worldwide Rollout of Symptom Tracker

The COVID-19 pandemic has rewritten the way we approach pandemics in so many ways. It has brought to light new dimensions that also have a part in pandemics in the age of social media and the internet. However, it has, more importantly, highlighted the importance of data and technology in managing the spread of a deadly virus.

Facebook is looking to help with the data portion of the equation when it comes to managing the COVID-19 outbreak. With many country’s public health sectors being bogged down and overwhelmed, the company is looking to step in to help monitor hotspots and predict infection clusters before they occur. Partnering with Carnegie Mellon University Delphi Research Center, the company has developed a symptom tracker which can help predict hotspots based on surveys.

These opt-in survey ask participants if they have experienced any of the symptoms currently associated with a SARS-CoV-2 infection. These include coughing, shortness of breath, loss of smell, loss of taste and fevers. Using these symptoms are precursor markers, the data collected is able to help forecast potential patient loads for hospitals during the outbreak and if the curve is being flattened. These responses are sent directly to researchers in Carnegie Mellon University.

This is work that social networks are well-situated to do. By distributing surveys to large numbers of people whose identities we know, we can quickly generate enough signal to correct for biases and ensure sampling is done properly. 

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook

Facebook is facilitating this research as part of its Data for Good program. The social media platform is proving its efficacy as a platform for data collection. On a daily basis, about 2 billion users interact on the platform; making it uniquely suited as a potential data silo. This application could potentially help countries still struggling with COVID-19 predict and manage outbreaks and disease clusters more effectively. It can also be a game changer for countries which do not have the resources to deal with the pandemic effectively.

After a month of trials, Facebook is looking to make the survey available internationally. During the trails, the company saw the efficacy of using the collected data to create a county-by-county heat map for COVID-19 spread; something that was apparently hard to get in the U.S.

Fitbit Introduces COVID-19 Resource Hub

Fitbit has always been known for their wearables and health-centric devices. The company is arguably one of the first to pioneer health-centric gadgets such as fitness trackers. Just recently, Fitbit announced the availability of the new Charge 4 which brings much sought after features to one of their most popular fitness trackers.

This week, the company is focusing on their app; the place where all the magic happens. Fitbit devices, while good for tracking need a way to convey the data they collect in an easy to understand way; that’s where the App comes in. However, the app isn’t just about the data either, it has evolved over the years to become a community hub for Fitbit users around the world. Fitbit has also helped this along the way by introducing more ways to interact on the app.

More recently, the app saw the launch of a premium service where users are able to access personal training, nutrition advice and workout plans and videos for a monthly fee. This was further bolstered by the introduction of new app based features for the Charge 4. Now, in light of the current global pandemic, the company is introducing yet another feature – a COVID-19 Resource Hub.

The current pandemic is one of the first pandemics of its scale and the advent of social media has undoubtedly introduced a new dimension to how pandemics work. With a massive amount of information at our fingertips, it’s hard to discern what is real and what isn’t. The new COVID-19 resource hub is Fitbit’s way of helping the Fitbit community get access to verified information about the pandemic. The hub will feature information sourced from the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help the community keep safe, informed and healthy. The resource hub will appear in app as a red cross on the quick access bar starting on April 10, 2020.

In addition to the Resource Hub, users in the United States will be able to get access to doctors virtually via the Fitbit app. The company will be working with PlushCare, an online medical consultation provider, to provide this service. Using PlushCare, users will be able to get access to board-certified doctors virtually. The doctors will be able to provide diagnoses and prescription refills for those who need it during the lockdown. They are also recognised by insurance providers in the U.S. so users will be able to charge their insurance or copay. However, if you’re uninsured, you will have to pay USD$99 on top of the monthly Fitbit Premium membership fee for each visit. We don’t have word on whether Fitbit is looking to bring the feature to other countries just yet.

These efforts come as a complement to Fitbit’s many research efforts. The company has already been collaborating with research organisations such as The Scripps Research Institute and Stanford Medicine to help use wearables to detect early signs of diseases. Their research has, so far, been limited to viral illnesses. The researchers are currently looking at using this research to help identify COVID-19 cases using activity, sleep and heart rate data. The company is inviting users to share their data to help contribute to this research and also help in the battle against the SARS-CoV-2.

Fitbit has also made their premium service free for 90-days during the pandemic. With access to Premium, users are able to access over 40 at home workouts, meditations, sleep tracks and more in the Fitbit app. This offer is only available to new Premium members as a free trial.

Apple & Google Help Battle COVID-19 with Contact Tracing Technology

The COVID-19 pandemic has been taking the world by storm. It has had an unprecedented affect on every country in the world and the world economy. The world is also beginning to realise the value of front liners such as doctors, nurses, scientists and janitors. That said, Google and Apple and lending a hand in fighting the pandemic by working together.

The companies announced a joint effort to help with the current pandemic. The effort comes in the form an APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) which will help with contact tracing. Contact tracing is becoming increasingly more important in the battle against COVID-19 to help with the mitigation of the viral spread. Countries which have started or have been doing contact tracing have shown better disease control in the current pandemic.

Apple and Google are looking to assist with Contact Tracing by using Bluetooth on smartphones. The APIs will work with together with operating system level technology to allow the tracking of potential spread of COVID-19. Essentially, authorised applications will be able to use Bluetooth on both iOS and Android smartphones to help identify individuals who have potentially come in contact with infected individuals. As of right now, it seems like these APIs will be made available to government and public health agencies to help mitigate the spread of the pandemic.

Apple and Google have both stressed that user privacy, transparency and security will be central to the development of these APIs. They are looking into broader, more robust applications of the APIs being developed which allow more individuals to participate, should they choose to via an opt-in. These broader application are being explored in consultation with other interested stakeholders. The effort comes after a number of public health authorities, universities and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) around the world kick started an effort to develop opt-in contact tracing technology.

The APIs and its functionality will be rolled out in stages given the dire need for contact tracing in the current pandemic. The initial stage will be the rollout of the APIs in May which will enable interoperability between the mobile platforms. Official apps using these APIs will be available in the Google Play and Apple App Stores. After this, Google and Apple will be working to enhance and enable broader Bluetooth based contact tracing enabling more robust applications. The companies have stated that they will be openly publishing information their work to be analyzed by others during this process.

Fitbit Unleashes the Charge 4, Now with GPS, Active Zone Minutes and More

Fitbit has become a brand synonymous with health and fitness. While the company has recently been acquired by Google, it doesn’t seem to have slowed them down. In fact, Fitbit has just announced a new entry to their Charge line up, the Charge 4.

Introducing Fitbit Charge 4

The new Fitbit Charge 4 comes with all the features that made everyone fall in love with the previous Charge devices. However, it has a few upgrades. The Charge 4 is the first tracker in the line up to have GPS. This allows you to track where and how far you’ve gone on your runs. This comes as an enhancement to the now essential features of any fitness tracker including customisable watch faces, notifications and even sleep tracking.

The Fitbit Charge 4 introduces Active Zone Minutes. This is developed based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Heart Association. Both organisations recommend that everyone should have 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigourous activity weekly. Based on this recommendation, the Charge 4 will track your heart rate with Fitbit’s PurePulse 24/7 heart tracking. Using personalised data, it will determine how much effort you are exerting for an activity. This will allow for better tracking. In fact, the Charge 4 will be able to notify you each time you enter or exit zones. This will allow you to better optimise your workouts. If you want to get more detailed data, it’s accessible via the Fitbit App.

The Charge 4 comes with a promised 7 days battery life or 5 hours if you’re continuously using GPS. It is water resistant up to 50 metres and is swimproof. According to Fitbit the Charge 4 is able to operate between -20° to 60° C and up to an altitude of 8,535m.

Pricing & Availability

The Charge 4 will be available in stores starting late April. The regular version will retail for MYR 698. It will be available in black, rosewood and storm blue/black. The Special Edition will be available at MYR 798 in granite reflective/black wooven band. It will also come with a classic band for when you workout.

Garmin Goes Golfing with the Approach S62 Smartwatch

We like Garmin smartwatches, we do. While some of them are not specifically smartwatches in the modern sense (touch screen), they do still work like one. They connect via Bluetooth to your smartphone. They can be connected to your earphones for exercises and runs. They detect your heartrate and display all the information it can gather on your smartphone. They also take on notifications from your smartphones. So, the Garmin fitness trackers are smartwatches, unique smartwatches.

We like Garmin smartwatches because they are very well made. They are very rugged too, and their smartwatch batteries last you weeks instead of hours or days. Plus, their expertise in GPS tracking does not hurt as well. They are remarkable premium smartwatches to own.

In that sense also, Garmin has been making smartwatches that is targeted towards certain types of individuals. Most of them are quite active, to be fair. You get runners, swimmers, sailors, flyers, and even race drivers.

They also make smartwatches for golfers that is the Approach S40 and the S60. There is a new one though, an even better one. Welcome to the Approach S62.

Source: Garmin

The Garmin Approach 62 is an evolution of the Approach S60. That also means that it has all the great features of the Approach S60. It is a touch screen smartwatch, so you do not have to fiddle around with the buttons. At the same time, it has all the tracking functions you need on the golf course. It keeps all the distance information and scores for you so you can look at the data at home.

The new Garmin Approach S62 though can do one better. It has a slew of new sensors for swing detection. Now you can look at your past swings and let the watch determine which clubs are the best for each shot from wherever you are. Yes, the Approach series has golf course map data built into the smartwatch. They call the feature ‘Virtual Caddie’.

Source: Garmin

The Garmin Approach S62 smartwatch also features slightly bigger display at 1.3-inch. While it does not sound like much, a larger screen also means you do not have to squint so much to find your data or look at what is on the display. Of course, like a smartwatch too it has all the bells and whistles you might already expect from a smartwatch like heart rate monitors, oxygen saturation levels and what not.

You can expect the Approach S62 to last you up to 14 days on a single charge. With GPS mode on, you cut that down to 20 hours. Look at it this way though, you are not going to be walking around the golf course for 20 hours at a time. 20 hours is more than enough then.

The Approach S62 is available for pre-order via Garmin’s brand stores and MST golf stores across Malaysia. It will set you back MYR 2,399; more expensive than the Approach S60. You cannot technically go out to buy the Approach S62 now though because of the whole Movement Control Order (MCO) situation. Pre-orders are until the 30th of April 2020 though so you have about two weeks to pre-order one for yourself. If you do pre-order, you get MYR 259 worth of Garmin’s golf merchandises (while stocks last).

Sprinting to Bring Tech to Emergency Hospitals in Wuhan, China

This article is contributed by Varinderjit Singh, General Manager, Lenovo Malaysia.

In a staggering feat of modern construction, crews in Wuhan, China built two emergency hospitals in 10 days shortly after the coronavirus outbreak began to relieve an overburdened hospital system for this unprecedented pandemic. For a small group of Lenovo employees, those days in late January will be forever remembered as a time of rapid and meaningful collaboration alongside colleagues and friends to meet a devastating technical challenge.

Emergency Construction Begins

As hospitals in Wuhan became instantly overcrowded with patients, construction began on January 23 of the Huoshenshan hospital and again on January 27 of the Leishenshan hospital. The day after emergency construction crews broke ground on the first hospital, Lenovo created an epidemic prevention and control team that decided to donate all the IT equipment needed by Huoshenshan.

Source: Business Insider

Delivering hundreds of computers, tablets, printers, and more to the hospital in such a short time—and in a way that would be safe for everyone involved—posed an incredible challenge to the team. Still, the scale and operational experience of Lenovo made the team optimistic they could contribute all the necessary parts within the aggressive 10-day timeline.“We just want to do something, to help by providing whatever IT equipment the hospital needed,” said Lu Yuan, General Manager of Lenovo’s Commercial Customer Business of Hunan and Hubei provinces (Wuhan is located in Hubei province).

Round the Clock Coordination

Source: Lenovo

Getting the products to the hospitals through a largely quarantined city was the first task, followed immediately by assembling IT and maintenance volunteers needed to make it all work on site. Lenovo’s after-sales service engineers from across the country, Xu Tan, Senior Manager of Lenovo Customers of Hubei and Wu Zhiyuan, Senior Sale Manager of Commercial Solutions volunteered and worked non stop to better equip the front-line medical staff for a better fight.

“The complex environment is far beyond imagination,” said Wu. “Under normal circumstances, with the speed of Lenovo, 15 people and 500 sets of equipment can be fully installed and commissioned in less than 24 hours. However, the 24-hour, non-stop construction requires coordination from multiple parts, such as communicating with the hospital’s organizer, establishing the on-site network, and syncing with tech experts at Lenovo headquarters.”

Wu continued, “In general circumstances, one PC is equipped with one printer, but for the hospital each medical PC needs to connect to three printers: a wristband printer, a case printer, and a receipt printer, which is a tough challenge for compatibility. Huoshenshan alone has 500 desktops, and if we install the equipment one by one, the workload is beyond imagination. But with the help of Lenovo IDV [a desktop solution that can quickly install thousands of PCs] we installed the desktops of 500 computer terminals at once, enabling doctors and staff to use them immediately. Also any problems can be handled remotely, which is not only extremely efficient but also reduces the frequency of entering any contaminated areas.”

A group of Lenovo engineers and hospital support completed the installation and commissioning of more than 1,400 pieces of equipment at both hospitals in only a few days to ensure that the hospitals would be able to provide services to patients on time.

By February 2, all IT equipment donated to Huoshenshan Hospital was delivered, updated, installed, and put into use—just one day before its doors opened to patients on February 3.

This was the beginning of Lenovo’s efforts to support employees, customers, and communities as COVID-19 spread. In China, Lenovo’s efforts continue, bolstered by the friends from Lenovo all around the world.

Project Pitlane – F1 Tech in Battling COVID-19

If you have not known yet, I am the resident Formula 1 (F1) nut in the office. I talk about F1 all the time, maybe to the point of annoyance. I had the privilege of attending the F1 Singapore GP in 2019 courtesy of Acronis and loved every second of being there. Sure, to some, F1 is nothing more than just watching cars going around a piece of specialised and closed road for an hour and a half.

To me, F1 is more than just that. It is the epitome of competition. It is the pinnacle of automotive racing, a sort of playground for the best of the best in the sport. It is also the pinnacle of modern automotive technology. The F1 world has contributed plenty of its innovation to the road going vehicles that we see today.

Source: Williams Advanced Engineering

There are other things as well. The understanding of Carbon Fibre constructions and driver safety is the reason hospitals have specific cradles for new-born babies that are lightweight, safe, and super comfortable for the younglings. So, F1 tech has reached out to more than just modern automotive industry.

We are all saddened by the news that the Japan Olympics this year has been postponed to 2021 at the earliest. I was very sad when they announced that F1 in Australia has to be cancelled, when China voluntarily cancels their own hosting for this year’s F1 GP, and when F1 also announced that they are not going to be racing in Bahrain, and Vietnam in 2020. All this, in the name of combatting COVID-19. One of the McLaren staffs was confirmed as a case in Australia and that kicked started the whole chains of events until today.

As of yesterday, some good news shone from the world of F1. They are not completely shutting down their factories and labs. Instead they are re-purposing them, at least seven of them in the United Kingdom (UK) are. These seven F1 outfits are all based in the UK as well, which is sort of why they are re-purposing their factories and labs to something they call Project Pitlane and #VentilatorChallengeUK consortium.

#VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium

By now, you would have read plenty about the global pandemic that is COVID-19. By now, you would also learn to recognise the symptoms of contracting the virus as well. By now, you would have learnt that patients will have trouble breathing.

 This calls for breathing aid apparatus for the patients treated for COVID-19. In UK, where cases have exceeded 22,000 individuals and death tolls hitting the 1,500s, the need of such devices is becoming a desperation. They need more than 20,000 ventilation equipment at this point.

The VentilatorChallengeUK consortium is the UK government’s call out to the private sectors to supply the health industry in the region with breathing aid equipment. It is an open tender for companies to design, build, and quickly manufacture a breathing aid apparatus for patients in the UK, for now. To that, the F1 world has answered the call with Project Pitlane.

Project Pitlane

The description from F1’s own website is very brief actually. It is sort of a call to arms for the F1 teams to contribute in this global pandemic, or rather to fight this pandemic. The project is basically a challenge to the F1 teams to reverse engineer, redesign, and produce any devices or anything that could help in scaling the production of UK’s VentilatorChallengeUK. It could reach out more than that in a later date though.

To that extent, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, BWT Racing Point F1 Team, Hass F1 Team, McLaren F1 Team, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, Renault DP World F1 Team, and ROKiT Williams Racing has answered the call and pledged to Project Pitlane.

In Italy, Ferrari has done their own part in the battle of COVID-19 too. They have donated EU€ 10 million (MYR 47.4 million) to the cause to buy ventilators and to provide a fleet of cars to transport and distribute food and medical supplies. Imagine a Ferrari F12 ambulance on their patient run, or even a Ferrari F12 fleet sending emergency medical supplies from one hospital to another. That would have been a great sight. Only in Italy though, at this point.

Mercedes-AMG x UCLH CPAP

Source: Formula 1

While they are not the first or only team to respond to Project Pitlane. The UK based Mercedes High-Performance Powertrains (HPP) department in Brixworth, or their engine producing department is the first to make something out of it, so far. They have partnered with the University College of London and its Hospital unit (UCLH) to finally get their Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) breathing aid approved for production for UK hospitals. Mercedes-Benz won their 6th world title last year and is technically chasing their record-breaking 7th this season.

The rapid challenge that is the F1 racing helped Mercedes-AMG powertrain department to quickly reverse engineer and produce the breathing aid with UCLH from first meeting to the factory floors within 100 hours. They have been working on the CPAP apparatus since 18th of March 2020 apparently. Currently, there will be 100 units of the CPAP equipment produced by the Brixton based outfit for clinical trials across UK.

Source: Mercedes-AMG F1

If you understand medical equipment production. Products like the CPAP that Mercedes-AMG HPP and UCLH has developed or reverse engineered could take years to develop. They have done in in a matter of days. It is not just a testament of how much the world has progressed today, it is a testament to what F1 type production process could do for other industries.

It also is also a prove of how many brilliant people are involved in getting a car circling a piece of specialised road as quickly as possible. Then again, the factory in Brixworth costs Mercedes-Benz quite a lot of money. It has been producing F1 engines since 1983 and has been producing several championship winning power units in various cars over the years.