Doctors in Beijing and Shenzhen, about 2,000 kilometers apart, cooperated in a surgical operation using 5G technology, the first multi-center remote cooperative surgery in the world, according to domestic media reports.
Seated in a 5G center located in Beijing, Dong Jiahong, executive dean of Beijing Tsinghua Changgeng Hospital, did pre-surgery discussions and provided remote technical guidance to doctors in a Shenzhen hospital who actually did the surgery.
Dong's real-time participation in the surgery was realized by 5G and Mixed Reality technologies, according to the reports. The 5G center and technologies were provided by Chinese telecom operator China Unicom.
China Unicom has not responded to an interview request as of press time.
This remote cooperation operation made with the help of 5G technologies is an example of how the commercialization of 5G technologies is speeding up in China.
According to a report on news portal yicai.com, China is expected to start 5G pre-commercialization in 2019 and will roll out large-scale 5G commercialization in 2020.
Major Chinese telecom operators are investing large sums in 5G construction. A yicai.com report noted that China Unicom is planning to invest about 6 billion yuan ($894 million) to 8 billion yuan in 5G in 2019. China Mobile also signed a 1 billion euro contract with Nokia in 2018 to invest in 5G.
