HONG KONG, April 30, 2008 - Kiang Wu Hospital and Cisco today announced that the hospital will deploy Cisco IP (Internet Protocol) networking technologies in its new Dr. Henry Y. T. Fok Specialist Medical Center in Macau. The deployment is designed to support the delivery of high quality medical services and a brand new experience to the communities of Macau and Hong Kong.
Designed to meet the growing demand for quality healthcare services, Macau's Kiang Wu Hospital is collaborating with Cisco, Macau's telecom service provider CTM and Cisco Gold Certified Partner Macroview Telecom (Macroview) to develop a wide array of applications via Cisco's Unified Communications solution and Unified Wireless Network, to improve patient care services and streamline the administration of the hospital.
"We are keen to provide the best possible medical experience for our patients. With the construction of the new Dr. Henry Y. T. Fok Specialist Medical Center, we have an ideal opportunity to incorporate the latest technologies into our system. This will help elevate our ability to provide patients with the highest quality of services and equip our medical practitioners with the tools they need to deliver such services to patients," said Dr. Zhang Xuming, director of Kiang Wu Hospital. "With Cisco's compelling solutions and extensive experience in the healthcare industry, together with the professional advice and expertise of CTM and Macroview Telecom, this collaboration not only benefits the stakeholders of the hospital, but also sets a benchmark for medical service providers and lays the foundation for a digital hospital infrastructure for the community."
The Cisco Unified Communications solution and Unified Wireless Network deliver enhanced mobility and security with real-time access to data applications, which can help the hospital improve the standard of medical care, accelerate responsiveness and increase productivity.
Kiang Wu Hospital plans to adopt innovative applications after the Cisco solution is deployed, including Barcode Point of Care (BPOC), Nurse Call System, Patient Panel and Telemedicine. These applications help enable medical practitioners to more easily obtain real-time patient data, which typically might include access to comprehensive information and applications at the bedside. Some of these applications will be deployed via Macroview's Leading Unified Communications Application Services (LUCAS), a flexible platform for developing and implementing IP-based applications integrated with Cisco Unified Communications technology.
The network also streamlines the administration and operation of the hospital, with more integrated and flexible internal communications, highly secure information sharing and notable cost reduction.
The backbone of the Cisco networking infrastructure to be deployed in the Dr. Henry Y. T. Fok Specialist Medical Center of Kiang Wu Hospital includes Cisco Catalyst® 6500 Series Switches, Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series Switches with Power over Ethernet (PoE), Cisco 4400 Series Wireless LAN Controllers and Cisco Aironet® 1130 Series Access Points, as well as Cisco Unified Communications Manager Version 5.0 with the Cisco Unified IP Phones 7900 Series. The Center is expected to be in service in late 2008 and users of the hospitals will benefit from the enhanced services made possible by the Cisco solution.
The deployment of the Cisco IP platform foundation and first-phase solutions testifies to Kiang Wu's vision and commitment to its mission of benefiting its patients with more customized applications and solutions over the long run and providing quicker and even safer medical services for the community. After the implementation in its specialist medical center later this year, the hospital will consider broadening the scope of the IP network with the extension to other medical premises in order to best meet the increasing demand for quality healthcare in the region.
"Cisco is delighted to collaborate with a forward-looking medical institute like Kiang Wu Hospital to set this new paradigm for a digital hospital infrastructure in the region. This deployment not only raises the bar for digital healthcare systems, but also underlines our commitment to contributing to enhanced living for everyone in the community. As medical institutes increasingly rely on technology, Cisco solutions will become an integral part of healthcare ecosystems," said Barbara Chiu, general manager, Cisco Hong Kong and Macau.
About Kiang Wu Hospital
Kiang Wu Hospital is a non-governmental medical organization in Macau and is a subsidiary of Kiang Wu Hospital Charitable Association. Kiang Wu, a Chinese founded and managed hospital, was established in 1871. During the early days, the hospital provided only Chinese medicine service. Later on, Dr Sun Yat-Sen introduced Western medical service to Kiang Wu Hospital. The foundation of Kiang Wu Hospital was to set up a medical organization which ought to be run and managed efficiently, at the same time putting the focus on the patients by treating them with respect and providing an amicable atmosphere. Today, Kiang Wu Hospital has been developed into a modernized general academic hospital with 576 beds of different types. Annual emergency and out-patient attendances have exceeded 1,000,000 with patient discharged numbering more than 25,000 yearly. The combination of medical service, prevention of health, teaching and scientific research has gradually upgraded the running of our hospital. Over the years, Kiang Wu hospital has been providing health care services to the public to fulfill our core values of caring for the poor and needy, and to promote a healthy and meaningful life to the general public.