Gold Coast coronavirus funding breakthrough to help patients

A Gold Coast technology company has received a funding boost to help it create systems which enable doctors to get faster information on patients presenting with coronavirus.

A GOLD Coast technology company has received a funding boost to help it create systems which enable doctors to get faster information on patients presenting with coronavirus.

The Palaszczuk Government predicts the funding will ensure the tech company can develop a data platform to help hospitals respond faster to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bulletin understands $1.5 million in Advance Queensland funding will be provided to tech start-up Datarwe for their Precision Medicine Data Platform project which can save lives through more targeted diagnosis.

DR Kelvin Ross and Dr Brent Richards with some of the data collecting results at Datarwe at Southport.. Picture Glenn Hampson

Innovation Minister Kate Jones is to announce the government will provide the funding which she believes can reduce deaths by more targeted and thorough diagnosis.

“We’re seeing thousands more patients present to hospital scared that they’ve caught COVID-19,” Ms Jones said.

“This cutting-edge technology – developed on the Gold Coast – could help doctors to diagnose patients more quickly in the future, taking a huge strain off our health system.”

The Precision Medicine Data Platform will gather data from multiple devices and dedicated clinical information sources, initially from the close monitoring of patients in the University

Hospital Intensive Care Unit.

Plans are to expand the platform to 250 hospitals across the Asia-Pacific creating a key resource to develop diagnostics, treatment protocols and med-tech products.

“This has huge potential to save more lives in our hospitals,” Ms Jones said.

“It’s great that we can support a local company to develop this world-class technology further.

“We also know there are huge export benefits. If more hospitals around the world adopt this

technology, this tech could create thousands of jobs for Queenslanders.”

Kate Jones has announced the funding. Picture: AAP.

Gold Coast University Hospital specialist Associate Professor Brent Richards and Griffith University Adjunct Professor Dr Kelvin Ross are “working around the clock” with Queensland Health to add a COVID-19 Rapid Response dashboard to the Datarwe platform.

“We plan to have this dashboard in place soon for ICUs in Queensland to use as part of the

coronavirus pandemic response plan,” Dr Ross said.

“The investment by Advance Queensland is also a critical step towards making Queensland a global hub for medical AI research and associated technology firms.

“We are already attracting the world’s leading medical AI researchers and innovators to collaborate and invest here, and that will create a new industry of advanced skills and jobs locally.”