The Next Hospital space, organized by Advances in Surgery (Aischannel) has become a phenomenal pole of attraction for visitors due to its advances in a field in which we are all interested: health. The large stand has been designed with cardboard furniture, as sustainable as possible for a structure that will be dismantled in two days. In the center, a ping-pong table. So that? Well, in it, Ricard, a man in his 40s who has been a paraplegic for 24 years, thanks to a light exoskeleton, can play this sport. And on Monday he did it with King Felipe during his visit.
The mix of profiles in the place is evident. Here there are not as many suits with ties as in the central spaces of the MWC, although do not look for a doctor with a gown on because you will not find him. Technical and health personnel work together in search of innovations that, in most cases, are basically new software systems and solutions applied to traditional medicine.
In addition to humans, surgical robots have a leading role. One of them, Versius, is one of the most advanced in the world. This device shares space with the hybrid surgery robot from RobSurgical, a Catalan company. Its CEO, Jaume Amat, points out that only 2% of patients are benefiting from this surgery and each of the 7,000 robots does less than one a day. “These are indicators that something is wrong,” he says. With his machine, the surgeon can start operating manually and switch to robotic control when the greatest precision is needed.
Rod Menchaca, CEO of Advances in Surgery, notes that at MWC “there are a lot of things, but not all of them really make sense to people on the street. But when we talk about health, we all feel a bit identified”. “They have told us – he points out with a smile – that we are the stars of Mobile, that we have eaten the hyperloop”.
The Next Hospital shows the AIS TeleSurgeon, the system that became famous at the 2019 MWC by Dr. Antonio de Lacy, as it was the first time that a surgeon guided others remotely using 5G technology and that it is connected to different operating rooms around the world so that visitors can operate virtually using augmented reality.
Another advance is The Blue Box, an artificial intelligence diagnostic system inspired by the olfactory system of dogs that allows breast cancer to be detected with just a urinalysis. Hospital and surgical beds, made of cardboard, are also shown, with the advantages they have in cases of emergencies.
The growing strength of the health sector at the congress is also evident with the large space occupied by the Barcelona Health Hub this year. For the first time it has its own stand at 4 Years From Now (4YFN). With a privileged position, it accommodates some of the startups and companies that are part of the association. “Mobile is a privileged showcase to give exposure to our ecosystem and attract potential customers,” celebrates Cristian Pascual, president of the hub located in the modernist compound of the old Sant Pau hospital.
Among them are proposals such as the Terap application, which can be defined as the Booking for psychologists and psychiatrists. “You can easily request an appointment as if it were a beauty or hotel application,” explains Eva Rosell, general director of the Barcelona Health Hub, who also highlights how large companies are already incorporating this service for their workers, just as they offer restaurant tickets.
There are also more and more companies using the services of the startup Emotional, which uses artificial intelligence to detect a person’s social skills from a video of about 30 seconds, something very useful for human resources teams when searching for a profile. Concrete to incorporate your company.
Innovation comes from small startups, but also from large hospitals and administrations. This is the case of the Bellvitge hospital in a program in which the City Council of l’Hospitalet and Mobile World Capital have been involved together with private companies such as Vodafone. The result has changed the life of Dani Rubio, with chronic kidney disease, who has started to follow the dialysis treatment from home with the support of health personnel by videoconference.
The idea was born during the pandemic and has been perfected since, although it doesn’t need anything more than a tablet. “I am still accompanied by professionals, I save travel and I can more easily reconcile treatment and work life”, highlights this patient who only has one request when the pilot test ends: “Don’t take it from us, please!”.
