KUALA LUMPUR: Japan-based digital healthcare service provider Allm Inc has chosen Greater Kuala Lumpur (Greater KL) as its Southeast Asia base.
Established in early 2021 to provide solutions to improve the healthcare industry in the Southeast Asia region, the company is already in talks with medical institutions in Malaysia including public hospitals, seeking partnerships to connect its solutions with products from the healthcare industry in the country.
In an interview with the New Straits Times, Allm Inc. chief executive officer and representative director Teppei Sakano said Allm's main solution, 'Join', is a cloud-based telecommunication app for medical professionals.
The app allows secure communication for quick discussion in diagnosis, medical information sharing, and making treatment decisions within the hospital or for inter-hospital collaboration.
"The ultimate objective is to establish a stroke network across Malaysia utilising our secured telemedicine tool – 'Join' - which currently Malaysia does not have such a telecommunication platform among medical professionals."
"We have approached other healthcare providers like pharmaceutical or medical device companies for collaborative partnerships to connect their products and our solutions for hospitals".
"Some projects have started since early this year and some are still in the discussion phase to secure the Proof of Concept (POC) projects in hospitals before commercialisation takes place for continuous use of our solution," he said.
Allm has a few collaborations for its Telestroke research projects with various local universities including Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM, Hospital UiTM and Universiti Putra Malaysia Teaching Hospital.
He added that the collaboration was to evaluate the use of the 'Join' to improve end-to-end stroke care management.
The company also conducted clinical trials with two Health Ministry hospitals to collect multi-centre data on the clinical benefits of using 'Join' as a telemedicine tool in acute stroke management.
Allm's innovative project is part of the 'Greater KL Live Lab' programme - an initiative introduced by InvestKL, an investment agency under the International Trade and Industry Ministry to use Greater KL as a testbed to conduct knowledge-intensive and innovative activities while collaborating with local industry players and academia.
"Our goal is to utilise the programme's resources and support, to facilitate our collaboration projects with universities or the ministry's hospitals to examine the effectiveness of 'Join', as a cloud-based telemedicine tool and communication application among medical professionals to improve the quality of stroke care and enabled thrombolysis example to be given earlier and more safely in Malaysia's hospitals."
"At present, medical professionals still use conventional ways when it comes to case discussion, sharing medical information, or referring patients to other hospitals. This includes emailing, phone calls or using unsecured public social network services (SNSs) like WhatsApp or Telegram," added Teppei.
InvestKL chief executive officer, Muhammad Azmi Zulkifli said "There is tremendous growth in the digital health industry, and we see many fast-growing companies such as Allm accelerating their innovative ideas and concepts from Greater KL to reach the Southeast Asian market.
"Greater KL offers a vibrant ecosystem, robust digital infrastructure, and dynamic talent to initiate and expand a variation of digital and technology-based solutions. Technology-enabled healthcare is the future, and we are proud to be able to support such a project."
In addition to the digital technology development, the 'Join' app is currently enhanced with video streaming of real-time surgical procedures for training and educational purposes.
This includes linking the app with a diagnostic AI program to further contribute to the reform of work styles in the medical field and collaboration with POCT (point of care testing) devices for early diagnosis and disease prevention for different tele-Expert services.
Other solutions like JoinTriage, a triage app for Emergency Medicine Service providers that help paramedics and EMTs quickly and accurately triage patients during emergencies before arriving at the hospital.
MySOS, a support app for emergencies and personal healthcare information for the user and Team, is a solution for the total community healthcare system. Both solutions will provide a monitoring system for patients that are still undergoing any medical treatment to better community care.
In Japan, MySOS and Team Platform have been used during the Covid-19 pandemic as quarantine systems in Japan. All visitors entering Japan are obligated to install the MySOS app and alert their health condition daily through the app.
It was also used during Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games which Allm provided PCR testing with flight certificates to more than 11,000 athletes and staff, and the result was notifed by email.
Through the power of ICT, Allm aims to eliminate disparities and inefficiencies in healthcare, while increasing access to quality care and well-being for all.
Their mission is to provide solutions that revolutionise clinical communication among medical professionals, reduce healthcare expenditures, streamline clinical workflows for better coordination and improve all levels of patient care.