TechMed mobilizes forces to support hospitals

The corona crisis puts huge pressure on hospitals and health care professionals and leads to a shortage of medical supplies and equipment. The Technical Medical Centre of the University of Twente (TechMed) currently starts several initiatives to support the health care sector in coping with this crisis. From fast additional training to new solutions for respiratory equipment. 

TechMed managing director Remke Burie: “What primarily matters now, is a fast and adequate response to the needs of the hospitals dealing with corona every day. This starts with the availability of people. There is an urgent need for additional training of healthcare professionals, so they can start playing their role in corona care. We upscaled our training and simulation facilities for this.” And it is time for creative solutions: would it, for example, be possible to have more than one patient on a single ventilation machine, in a responsible way? For finding solutions for this, using existing equipment as a starting point, TechMed collaborates with Radboudumc (Nijmegen), Amsterdam UMC and the Medisch Spectrum Twente (Enschede).

TechMed is, for example, also working on artificial intelligence techniques for monitoring and predicting disease progress, and develops models for organizing intensive care capacity in hospitals.

Remke Burie emphasizes the need for sharing knowledge and collaboration: “We make an appeal to partners in and outside the Twente region, including high tech companies, to help us accelerate our plans. It is clear that we need speed right now.” TechMed closely collaborates with ROAZ (network for acute care), many hospitals, and the Ministries involved.

The Technical Medical Centre (TechMed), opened last Autumn, concentrates research, teaching and business in healthcare technology. All the initiatives and corona crisis-related news can be found on their special webpage.