South Korea’s leading telecommunications company KT Corp. announced Monday that will test its digital healthcare service on trains on the trans-Siberian railway under the sponsorship of Korean health ministry and Russian state railway system.

The company signed an agreement in December 2017 with Russian Railways, operator of the trans-Siberian railway, to establish a system that allows patients to receive basic telemedicine care on trains. It successfully established telemedicine solutions and platforms in 12 hospitals in Kazakhstan last year.

KT has partnered with the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital to build a telemedicine system linking five clinics run by Russian Railways with the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow by June. KT will be in charge of establishing the digital healthcare solutions and the Bundang Hospital will be responsible for providing medical advice and training for medical staff.

KT said the telemedicine system run on the trans-Siberian railway will enable a quick diagnosis of a number of diseases including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes and prostate cancer through a simple blood or urine examination. Ultrasound scanning is also available, according to the company.

Its digital healthcare solution and platform named ‘m-Hospital’ received the Best Mobile Innovation for Health award at Mobile World Congress in February. KT plans to expand the service across Russia after the pilot test.

By Seo Dong-cheol and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]