Shanghai hospital sets up center on medical engineering development

A local hospital has announced plans that it will host a key laboratory for medical lighting technology and appliances under the Ministry of Education, an indication of successful integration and innovation in medical engineering.

The center at Shanghai Seventh People's Hospital, in collaboration with the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, will accelerate medical technology research and clinical transformation by focusing on intelligent traditional Chinese medicine equipment development, innovative medical material research, and smart hospital applications, according to officials.

"As a hospital featuring both Western and traditional Chinese medicine, we want to use the center to make progress in scientific and evidence-based evaluation of TCM and its digital and intelligent research and development," said Dr Yu Baoqing, president of the hospital, whose center has kicked off projects such as big data and artificial intelligence-based TCM research, AI-based clinical forecast models for health management of breast cancer patients, and an intelligent acupoint-guiding robot.

"We will also explore the development of high-end medical equipment targeting clinical demand and the localization of high-end appliances," he said.