Brazil launches its first smart intensive care unit within public healthcare system

The first smart intensive care unit in Brazil’s public healthcare system (SUS) has been opened at the Clementino Fraga Filho University Hospital in Rio de Janeiro. This was reported by Agência Brasil.

The unit is equipped with artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art digital technologies that optimise the monitoring of patients’ conditions, enable the cross-checking of information from all medical devices, alert doctors in advance to a possible deterioration in a patient’s condition, and help prioritise the provision of care. All the most important information is automatically recorded in the patient’s electronic health record.

The system is connected to ambulances via a 5G network, enabling vital signs to be transmitted even before the patient arrives at hospital.

According to the country’s Health Minister, Alexandre Padilha, such technologies help to reduce the length of time patients spend in intensive care and cut waiting lists for hospital admission.

There are plans to open 14 such intensive care units across the country, with a total capacity of 280 beds; US$34.6 million has been allocated for this purpose.

In addition, the government is investing around US$923 million in the development of a translational research centre (to translate scientific research into practical application), the modernisation of six leading hospitals within the SUS, and the construction of the country’s first fully smart hospital – the Technological Institute of Intelligent Medicine at the University of Sao Paulo. The latter is expected to have 800 beds and treat 20,000 patients a year. It is scheduled to begin operations in 2027.

Almost 36 per cent of the funding was provided by the BRICS New Development Bank.

The hospital, which forms part of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, has also commissioned a new linear accelerator for radiotherapy, enabling cancer patients to be treated more quickly and accurately whilst increasing treatment capacity from 20 to 40 patients a day.

The Brazilian authorities view these projects as an important step towards the digital modernisation of the public healthcare system, improving the quality of treatment and reducing waiting times for specialist medical care.