Fujitsu Japan and Juntendo University have launched a “Medical Digital Resilience Research Course” aimed at developing a disaster-ready medical system capable of maintaining continuous medical services during large-scale natural disasters or pandemics. This course will run for three years, beginning in June 2024.
By integrating Juntendo University’s expertise in critical care and disaster medicine with Fujitsu Japan’s advanced digital technologies, the course aims to create a framework for disaster-affected medical institutions to swiftly collect and share crucial information to aid recovery efforts. The collaboration will focus on developing technologies that facilitate the collection of data on conditions in disaster-hit areas, such as traffic congestion and fires.
This information will help medical personnel and local authorities coordinate their efforts, make data-driven decisions, predict patient volume and optimize material transport routes using tools like Fujitsu’s flood information prediction technology and hospital operation simulations for both normal and disaster scenarios. The ultimate goal is to achieve the social implementation of the research outcomes.
The urgency of establishing business continuity plans for medical institutions has increased in Japan due to heightened awareness of disaster preparedness following the COVID-19 pandemic and recent natural disasters like earthquakes, typhoons, and floods. Ensuring the continuous provision of medical services, suitable to the size and function of each institution, has become a critical priority.
However, during large-scale disasters, managing information about medical needs, such as the number and severity of injured or sick individuals and the availability of medical resources, remains a significant challenge. Currently, much of this information is handled using analogue methods, and the manual collection and coordination of this data complicate logistics during the acute stages of a disaster.
