South Korea’s SK Telecom said Monday that it will work with Korea University Medical Center to transform the hospital into a smart facility equipped with the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things and augmented reality.

The move comes as SK Group has been actively moving into the field of AI-driven health care. Last week, its internet technology solutions unit SK holding C&C said it would start developing a new AI program based on IBM’s Watson that will guide doctors in prescribing antibiotics.

SKT on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with the medical center, agreeing to jointly develop and apply new technologies and services by November.

The plans include utilizing AI to build a voice-based patient recordkeeping system and to study patient data records; developing IoT-based services for patients; and building a remote surgery surveillance system based on virtual and augmented reality.

On the AI front, SKT will develop a system that lets medical staff input patient data into a system via simple voice commands. It will also apply deep learning, a form of high-level machine learning, to study and analyze patient records.

The Korean telecom giant will also collaborate with the hospital to introduce IoT-based services by building a system that allows patients to check their appointments and waiting time as well as make payments on their own.

SKT will also make use of its virtual reality platform T-Real VR to allow the hospital and its three associated hospitals to recreate and share major surgical procedures via VR, it said.

“With rising patient expectations, we must embrace bold changes and adopt new, cutting-edge medical technologies to retain our position as a leading medical institution,” said Kim Hyo-myung, executive vice president for Medical Affairs at Korea University.

“Through our partnership with SKT, we hope to newly emerge as a world-class medical institution,” said Kim.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)