Last June 5G reached 15 Spanish cities and, since then, the debate on how the fifth generation of mobile technology affects health has been on the table. However, according to the WHO, there have been no indications that the radiation emitted by 5G devices has harmful effects on health. Quite the contrary, the emergence of 5G introduces important changes that benefit the digital transformation of the healthcare sector.
The possibility of increasing the connection speed and reducing latency allows a longer battery life for healthcare monitoring devices, as well as connecting a greater number of people at the same time, which increases their effectiveness. All this with greater energy savings.
The 5 areas of ehealth most enhanced by 5G technology
The implementation of 5G is seen by analysts as a boost for the economy, which is estimated to be worth around 225 billion euros in the European Community in the coming years, and will account for more than 15% of the world’s mobile connections by 2025*. The entry of this new generation of technology makes it possible to improve the daily lives of professionals and patients and at the same time to work on the eradication and fight against diseases and pathologies, as well as the decentralization of the services offered by the sector. These are the innovations brought by 5G:
- Telesurgery: the greater bandwidth offered by 5G technology makes it possible to download one gigabit per second, thus helping to enable high-quality images and videos to be shared in real time, which favors communication between professionals and therefore the implementation of telesurgery. For example, a doctor located anywhere in the world can assist a team located at a different site, such as an ambulance on the way to the hospital, through the remote connection that allows them to have a fluid real-time communication. In this way, they can direct or advise their colleagues or a surgical robot at any time and in any place.
- Teleconsultation and teleassistance: communication between professionals and patients will also be more fluid and without time and space barriers. The higher data transmission speed will enable better quality video calls between doctor and patient. This technology also makes it possible to transmit large diagnostic images or videos, which helps to provide better follow-up in the case of a chronic patient, saving time and avoiding unnecessary trips to the doctor’s office.
- Wearables: thanks to the savings in energy consumption of devices equipped with 5G, estimated at 90%, batteries will have greater autonomy. As a result, wearables and healthcare applications will work more effectively. Likewise, the synchronization or response speed of these devices will be faster, and thanks to the artificial intelligence they have, it will be possible to control and analyze the information collected more effectively. For example, wearables that monitor vital signs and track the patient’s condition will do so in a more agile way, being able to reach the doctor in real time.
- Intelligent drugs: the evolution and further development of this type of drugs is expected, capable of measuring the effects on the patient and delivering the right and precise amount in an intelligent way, making treatment more effective and less invasive, as is the case, for example, with the device for delivering insulin to diabetics, which avoids the old finger pricks.
- Virtual reality and 3D: virtual reality makes room for mixed reality, so that experts can obtain all the information they need to work with the virtual and real plane in real time, which helps them to make decisions more quickly. Also, 3D images will improve in quality and resolution, helping experts to have quality data on which to make decisions.
“The healthcare scenario has changed radically in recent years, empowering patients and giving them greater autonomy in managing their health. Likewise, doctors rely on their knowledge and experience of technological devices that enable them to obtain more precise diagnoses and more accurate treatments. And although there is still a long way to go, the emergence of 5G makes it easier for all players in the sector to work towards this transformation” explains Iosif E. Levi, CEO of Tibhealth.com, an online platform for finding and contacting the best medical specialists in private healthcare.
*Source: El País