Telecom firm KT said Thursday it will provide an optimal emergency rescue protocol using 5G and artificial intelligence technology by collaborating with the National Fire Agency and Severance Hospital.

The triumvirate is jointly devising a new smart emergency response service that embeds 5G network for medical emergencies from the 119 emergency call reception to ambulance transportation and hospital emergency room care.

As the first step, KT and the NFA on Thursday launched a 5G-based 119 video call service across the nation, officially expanding the six-city pilot project that had been enforced since October 2018.

SK Telecom and LG Uplus subscribers can also use this emergency call function, as KT will first aggregate all video calls made to and from the 119 call center and distribute them to the corresponding telecom providers.

Over 10 million voice calls are annually made to the 119 call center. For long, the 119 operators have wanted to make video calls to the distressed, in order to make a precise judgment of the situation at hand, but the lack of video call capability had deterred this, KT said.

KT’s newly launched 5G video call service with NFA will speed up decisions to dispatch rescue teams to appropriate scenes, securing critical rescue time, the company said.

The telecom service is also collaborating with Severance Hospital to equip ambulances with a high-tech emergency medical system. Using the 5G network and an augmented reality glasses and closed-circuit TV, the on-field operators and the Severance Hospital medics will be able to have real-time communication to deliver advanced emergency relief, both inside the van and upon arrival at the hospital.

KT, NFA and Severance Hospital have been running this pilot program since July.

A KT representative said that the company is invested in building a safer Korea through the 5G technology.

The telecom firm is a partner in the Ministry of Science and ICT’s plans to invest 23.1 billion won ($19.4 million) until end-2021 to develop cutting edge emergency care, including the 5G network-based transfer of a patient’s biometric data from ambulance to hospital, followed by the AI platform’s decision on customized emergency response.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)