KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 5): Five hospitals have been identified as health technology hubs under the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) initiative.

In a statement last Friday (Sept 2), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Ministry of Health said that three of these NTIS health technology hubs will be located in Kuala Lumpur, namely the Putrajaya Hospital, National Cancer Institute and Tunku Azizah Hospital, the Women's and Children's Hospital.

These three locations are selected based on their technology infrastructure readiness, skilled human resources, and capability to integrate with current technologies such as the internet and 5G, hardware and more.

The other sites are the Bera Hospital in Pahang and Rembau Hospital in Negeri Sembilan.

All five sites will be used for the testing of robotics and the internet of medical things, while leveraging 4G/5G facilities.

They will serve as one-stop centres for the health sector to meet the growing challenges in Malaysia, and to develop solutions that provide a quality healthcare experience for the country.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Sri Dr Adham Baba said the NTIS health technology hubs aim to test and eventually commercialise health technology innovation in a safe and regulated environment.

He said MOSTI is committed to developing innovative technologies that can further strengthen the healthcare system.

"The establishment of the NTIS health technology hubs will accelerate the development, application and commercialisation of local technology and innovation in the health sector, without affecting the duration of existing clinical trials,” he said.

Adham said the five health technology hubs will have access to test sites, funding and regulatory facilitation support in what is an open innovation ecosystem, where the public, private sector and Government collaborate to accelerate commercialisation rates.

The minister also announced that the hub will be supported by the 10-acre (4.05-hectare) Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) Integrated Healthcare Cluster, which will accelerate the exploration and development of healthcare and medical technology. Here, capacity building programmes, laboratories and research facilities will be provided to enable innovators to stress test ideas, prototypes, applications and various related solutions through the use of technology, equipment and Fourth Industry Revolution facilities in a live environment.