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.
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with countries that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
Taiwan would have established formal relations with Argentina long ago if not for China’s interference, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui told US-based Spanish-language online news outlet Infobae in an interview published on Tuesday. Beijing has left behind a string of unfulfilled promises in Latin America, including pledges to build the Grand Nicaragua Canal and airports, docks, ports and industrial zones in El Salvador, he said. Meanwhile, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and other countries enjoy pragmatic and improving relations with Taiwan based on cooperation on the economy, culture, technology and science, he said. While Taiwan is “happy to live and let live,”
WASHED ASHORE: Of the 16 bodies discovered along Taiwan’s west coast this month, two were Vietnamese and five were Taiwanese, coast guard officials said Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said that he has instructed prosecutors and maritime authorities to launch investigations after 16 bodies were found along Taiwan’s west coast this month, amid speculation that they were victims of smuggling or human trafficking rings. Coast Guard Administration (CGA) officials said the bodies, most of which had washed ashore, were found by coast guard personnel and local residents along the coastline from Keelung to Kaohsiung. Thirteen of the bodies are male and three are female, the CGA said, adding that items found on the bodies indicate that two of the men were Vietnamese, while three men
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