Cisco and Magyar Telekom lend helping hand to children's hospital

The new network and communication infrastructure will help streamline medical services, which will ultimately result in more efficient treatment to even higher standards. The project, realized with a $600,000 joint donation from Cisco and Magyar Telekom, includes new fixed and wireless networks, a new hospital information system, electronic patient records, IP telephony and RFID-based location services to track expensive medical equipment.

„Demographic, social and cultural changes are putting more pressure than ever before on healthcare providers. Increasingly, healthcare executives are turning to information and communications technology (ICT) to help improve patient care, provide faster and broader access to services, and to better manage costs. By creating this pilot project, we wanted to show what it means for doctors, hospital staff and most importantly patients to be working and be treated in a connected hospital.” said Tibor Rékasi, Cisco's general manager in Hungary.

„We experience the benefits every day,” Dr. György Velkey, senior director of Bethesda Children Hospital commented. „Our medical staff can access critical patient records anytime, anywhere. Waiting times could be cut, and savings can be achieved thanks to the integrated infrastructure. We also expect to save close to 3,000 working hours a year by integrating clinical and administrative systems, managing patients' X-ray, ultrasound and lab records electronically and storing data on the network,” Dr. Velkey added.

Cisco and Magyar Telekom have documented the entire project and prepared extensive ROI calculations, creating a model that can be replicated in other Hungarian hospitals and healthcare institutions. „The connected hospital initiative at Bethesda Children Hospital is fully in line with the objectives of the Hungarian healthcare reform. I am especially pleased about the fact that the project was carried out at a children's healthcare institute, as efficient and reliable medical services for children are one of our top priorities” said Dr. Ágnes Horváth, Hungary's minister of healthcare. „I also welcome the public private partnership between corporations and healthcare institutions and hope that this example will be followed by many others,” Minister Horváth added.