Brazil's Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha, recently met with executives from three global health technology and digital infrastructure companies in the city of Shenzhen, China. The meetings form part of a strategic technological co-operation agenda in the Asian country, aimed at modernising the Unified Health System (SUS).

According to a statement from the Ministry of Health, Neusoft, a company specialising in information technology applied to healthcare, presented solutions focused on digital hospital management, clinical data integration and intelligent medical decision support systems. During the meeting with Mindray, China's largest medical equipment manufacturer, opportunities were discussed relating to the supply of hospital equipment, the integration of digital platforms and the development of intensive care units based on artificial intelligence.

Padilha also took part in meetings with Huawei to discuss digital infrastructure, cloud systems and connectivity in healthcare — technologies considered essential for enabling the operation of the SUS's new intelligent services network.

The minister stated that this co-operation could help integrate clinical data, improve hospital management and expand the use of artificial intelligence in the organisation of the healthcare network, while also supporting digitalisation projects within Brazil's public health system.

(Source: Agência Brasil, on 17 March)