Several Taiwanese businesses yesterday showcased their “smart” surgical technologies at a forum in Taipei that was attended by about 200 medical experts from around the world.
The forum, titled “Future of Surgery,” was hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Biomedical Development Board and the Central Taiwan Science Park, and co-organized by the Institute for Research on Cancers of the Digestive Tract (IRCAD) Taiwan.
The nation’s medical device sector last year generated revenue of about NT$146.3 billion (US$4.99 billion), which is nearly 30 percent of the biomedical industry’s total revenue and the second-largest after the social welfare sector’s NT$162.5 billion, ministry data showed last month.
The ministry has been working to promote the integration of local brands and the industrial innovation of businesses, Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) said during a speech at the forum’s opening.
IRCAD France chief executive officer Jacques Marescaux, Visible Patient president Luc Soler and other executives from companies including Siemens Healthineers, Intuitive Surgical and Karl Storz also addressed the trends affecting the global medical device industry.
EPED Inc (醫百科技) presented a real-time navigation system for brain and craniofacial surgery. The system, called Retina, allows a surgeon to quickly and precisely find abnormal tissues in the brain.
By using the system’s augmented reality goggles to peer into patients’ bodies, surgeons would not be distracted by having to look at endoscopic monitors, company sales engineer Casey Lee (李耿直) said, adding that the system is being used at Kaohsiung Medical University.
Evolve Development Co (進化開發) showcased its “smart medicare service cloud,” which integrates medical service and hospital registration devices and TV broadcasts on a tablet computer, allowing medical personnel to understand patients’ needs before visiting them.
The company aims to develop “smart” hospital beds with multiple functions, company general manager Eric Lee (李元甫) said, adding that a trial version of the system has been installed at Chung Shan Hospital and the Central Clinic and Hospital in Taipei.
The firm is not planning to produce service robots as they lack the human “warmth” that is the essence of medical care, it said, but added that it might develop robots to help convey medicines in hospitals.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
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