Malaysian Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin has announced five hospitals as sandbox sites for solution providers to test-bed medical and healthcare technologies. The five hospitals are the National Cancer Institute Putrajaya and Putrajaya Hospital in Putrajaya, Tunku Azizah Hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Bera Hospital in Pahang, and Rembau Hospital in Negri Sembilan.
The Health Ministry, in collaboration with the Science, Technology, and Innovation Ministry, created the test-bed environment through the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) to provide the initial funding for companies and startups to commercialize their healthcare technology solutions. The Health Technology Hub and its innovations will be utilized to improve public healthcare services, not only in the delivery of medical and clinical care but also in hospital support. This includes robots that had been used in hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Health Ministry is also in the process of digitalizing hospitals, especially in developing electronic medical record systems.
Meanwhile, Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba stated that MRANTI, Malaysia’s central research & innovation commercialization agency under the ministry would join the NTIS Health Technology Hub through the MRANTI integrated healthcare cluster. Covering an area of 4.04ha in MRANTI park, the cluster includes a research and development center, an artificial intelligence tech hospital, and a recuperation and rehabilitation village. It will also function as a one-stop center to accelerate the implementation of highly innovative projects in various fields, including medicine and healthcare. The total gross floor area of this development is about 873,000 sq. ft. and will be supported by state-of-the-art infrastructure, including a holistic technology ecosystem such as 5G, hyperscale data centers, and low-density development environments. MRANTI and a local public university, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) have also signed an agreement to make the UiTM hospital as a physical testing facility for validation tests as well as a training center for healthcare-related innovations and solutions.
(Sources: New Straits Times; Malay Mail)
