Singapore: National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) of Taiwan has collaborated with Quanta Computer to launch a cloud solution that will provide neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) doctors and parents, access to a live video stream that they can watch anywhere from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The cloud solution called QOCA Baby is an extension from the BabyCam project, which was a research collaboration between Quanta Research Institute and Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US. 

One extension of QOCA BabyT is a mobile patient monitoring unit installed in an ICU that enables real time audio/video interactions between physicians, patients and patients' family members, according to Mr Alex Huang, senior manager, Quanta Computer.

NCKU Hospital neonatologist Yuh-Jyh Lin is the first physician to use the device. Dr Lin applied QOCA Baby to tend intensively to a seven-month premature baby, who is diagnosed with intestinal perforation and needs emergency surgery. After the operation, thanks to QOCA Baby, Dr Lin is able to observe the baby by monitoring it on the screen of his tablet even when he is home.

Additionally, QOCA Baby may increase the interaction between the mother and her newborn. The mother is able to interact with the baby and the medical staff by mobile devices, which will facilitate the communication and ease the postpartum depression. All neonatal physiological and biochemical monitoring data and images stored in the cloud database for computing and transmission, Mr Huang added.