The mobile application for medical emergency services in South Korea has been refreshed after over a decade.
Launched in 2014, the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s 129 app now has new features to quickly book and access virtual consultations with health counsellors.
It has introduced sign language-based video consultations, which people with speech and hearing difficulties can make a reservation for immediately.
129 app users can also quickly access emergency consultations with a counsellor via the new web chat feature.
Meanwhile, the existing chat feature connected to the KakaoTalk messaging app has been improved to shorten consultation wait time, according to MOHW.
Moreover, a 24/7 chatbot feature has been added to answer inquiries about health and welfare-related policies.
THE LARGER TREND
South Korea has been scrambling to find solutions to the impending healthcare staff shortage. Last year, it started investing in digital technologies, particularly AI, to test their viability. Two AI-based emergency systems – a regional emergency system for patient classification and transfer and a multi-institutional real-time critical patient transfer management system – are being developed as part of projects under the Korean Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. These projects have been allocated between $9 million and $16.5 million in funding over five years.
Another project is an AI-based clinical decision support system for predicting cardiac arrest, cardiovascular diseases, and sepsis in emergency departments, which has received $16.7 million in funding over five years.
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