Hospital Authority Convention to be held next week

The Hospital Authority (HA) on Thursday said more than 7,000 medical professionals will gather at the Convention and Exhibition Centre for an annual conference next week. Around 160 speakers will share their views on telemedicine, smart hospitals and artificial intelligence during the HA Convention on May 16 and 17. Dr Loletta So, who chairs the convention’s scientific programme committee, said this year's edition will be the largest ever. “For the scale, it’s actually much larger than last year. I think it’s more than last year. And it’s actually the highest number of all the previous years. So it’s going to be a very big meeting for us,” she said. “We mainly focus on the core values of the HA, which is about the people-centred care, professional service, etc. Another main point is about the innovation in our healthcare. So we have something like artificial intelligence, and then we have the telehealth and smart initiatives." Eastern Hospital will also report on its latest developments regarding new innovation technologies, such as using artificial intelligence to detect strokes. Dr Samuel Lam, a neurosurgery consultant at the hospital, said the technology saves time for doctors because they don't have to go through image scans one by one. "It will help us to streamline the whole workflow. For example, when the AI software identifies those high-risk patients, then the intervention team will be alerted immediately in the fastest way," he said.