“Can you hear me, Dr. Dechen?”
“Yes, no problem.”
“Could you please get an apical four chamber view…Yes, please pause here for a sec…”
Inside one of Zayü County People's Hospital’s consulting rooms, sonographer Tsering Dechen,
eyes fixed on the monitor, is skilfully moving the transducer on her patient while waiting for further instructions from the other end.
Meanwhile, in a 5G Remote Ultrasound Center 3,000 kilometers away, Dr. Chen Ming, head of the Ultrasound Department of Shenzhen Bao'an People's Hospital, is carefully examining an ultrasound image shared through Mindray’s Medical Imaging IT solution UltraSync in real time.
The patient in Zayü County is an 80-year-old local Tibetan who has been suffering from a heart condition for many years. Due to limited medical resources, his local hospital was only able to detect cardiac abnormalities, but could not give a definitive diagnosis. His medical condition had hence been shelved as it was not an immediate threat.
Fortunately, after UltraSync was introduced, a team of experts was able to examine his abdominal and cardiac ultrasound scans that Dr. Chen asked Dr. Tsering Dechen to perform. The panel suggested that the patient might have been having a complex congenital heart defect, as they discovered a hole in the patient’s atrial septum by studying and analyzing the real-time images, which provided a timely and sound basis for the decisions and treatment that followed.
Thanks to the fast and easy access to healthcare enabled by telemedicine platforms, people living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are experiencing tangible improvements in their health and well-being.
Meanwhile, in a 5G Remote Ultrasound Center 3,000 kilometers away, Dr. Chen Ming, head of the Ultrasound Department of Shenzhen Bao'an People's Hospital, is carefully examining an ultrasound image shared through Mindray’s Medical Imaging IT solution UltraSync in real time.
The patient in Zayü County is an 80-year-old local Tibetan who has been suffering from a heart condition for many years. Due to limited medical resources, his local hospital was only able to detect cardiac abnormalities, but could not give a definitive diagnosis. His medical condition had hence been shelved as it was not an immediate threat.
Fortunately, after UltraSync was introduced, a team of experts was able to examine his abdominal and cardiac ultrasound scans that Dr. Chen asked Dr. Tsering Dechen to perform. The panel suggested that the patient might have been having a complex congenital heart defect, as they discovered a hole in the patient’s atrial septum by studying and analyzing the real-time images, which provided a timely and sound basis for the decisions and treatment that followed.
Thanks to the fast and easy access to healthcare enabled by telemedicine platforms, people living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are experiencing tangible improvements in their health and well-being.
Average elevation
The distance between Nyingchi
city and Zayü County
The driving time
Bordering India and Myanmar, Zayü County is located in the south eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China.
Surrounded by imposing mountains with an average elevation exceeding 2,800 meters, Zayü was once an important post on the ancient Tea Horse Road’s treacherous route.
Over the last few years, “targeted poverty alleviation” efforts in the medical sector have been carried out by the Shenzhen-Tibet Working Group, which is supported by the CCP County Committee and People's Government of Zayü County, its health commission, and Shenzhen Bao'an People's Hospital Group. Together, they have built a “heavenly road” stretching 3,000 kilometers to connects Zayü County to the quality medical resources in Shenzhen, bringing healthcare and hope to the border towns.
Dr. Jia Yinghui from the Ultrasound Department of Bao'an People's Hospital was a support team member. The harsh natural landscape surrounding Zayü County took her by surprise upon arrival.
"Zayü County People's Hospital provides referrals for the local. However, it takes 12 hours straight from Zayü county to Nyingchi city, which is more than 500 kilometers away with two massive mountains in between. The long-distance transfer is a threat to patients' lives during the referral." said Dr. Jia, experiencing how hard it is for people to access healthcare due to the lack of local medical resources.
With the launching of a new targeted program by Bao'an People's Hospital to help Zayü County People's Hospital train clinicians, more doctors like Jia Yinghui arrived in the county to tutor local medical professionals and provide them with hands-on practices, advanced technologies, and valuable clinical experiences. This “twinning” approach was proved effective in cultivating local medical and public health talents.
Over time, the Shenzhen medical expert team, with their first-hand experience and knowledge of the county, has been comprehensively improving the medical services provided by primary hospitals in remote and poor areas by setting up platforms such as telemedicine and internet hospitals.
Each month, sonographers from Zayü County People's Hospital perform scans for approximately 100 patients. After acquiring a satisfactory image, they will upload it to UltraSync, so doctors in Bao'an People's Hospital can access a series of real-time information, including the procedures, images, videos, and audios, etc. Although 3,000 kilometers apart, there are no lags or freezes to hinder the diagnosis.
“We’ve received great support from Mindray,” says Dr. Chen Ming, head of the Ultrasound Department of Shenzhen Bao'an People's Hospital. “There are currently about 10 terminals that can connect with us when UltraSync is opened on both ends. We can make screenshots or record videos in real-time, while doctors in Zayü County operate, diagnose, and issue reports for people in Tibet with our help.”
Associate director of Shenzhen Bao'an People's Hospital Group
To date, around 50,000 interactions have been made with Shenzhen Bao'an People's Hospital via Mindray’s Medical Imaging IT solution UltraSync, among which over 2,000 patients have had real-time tele-ultrasound diagnoses. As a leading internet hospital, Bao'an People's Hospital Group has benefited over 1 million people nationwide through its 9 major healthcare platforms.
Yet, this “heavenly road” that connects Shenzhen, an eastern coastal city, with Zayü, a mountainous border county, is not the only one. A healthcare network has been built across China—transcending space and time—to connect and support lives. Over 20 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, including Xinjiang and Tibet, are benefiting from UltraSync at present.
As China moves forward in developing Internet Plus healthcare and internet-based health services, remote diagnosis and treatment enabled by UltraSync is supporting this effort by providing access to quality healthcare in remote areas. This empowers primary hospitals and contributes to the effective allocation of resources among regions and medical institutions.
By enabling quality healthcare at the grassroots level and levelling up the gap between the quality of services provided by primary and major hospitals, we are taking another significant step towards the implementation of hierarchical diagnosis and treatment, allowing more people to enjoy high-quality life care.
