‘We are very excited to launch this platform and to have the support of the World Stroke Organization to further test the feasibility of our platform in seven countries beyond Hong Kong,’ said Dr Gary Lau Kui-kai, Clinical Associate Professor, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, HKUMed, and Director of HKU Stroke.

‘We do hope our platform will not only be of use for the local Hong Kong stroke population, but also benefit low- and middle-income countries outside of Hong Kong, where rehabilitation services are limited due to severe shortages of physiotherapists and occupational therapists.’  ‘With advances in AI technologies, there is a lot of potential for our platform,’ said Dr Wilton Fok Wai-tung, Director of SAIL, HKU. ‘We will incorporate more movements to facilitate rehabilitation of fine motor functions, augmented and virtual reality and gamification functions, and various biometric monitoring functions very soon. We will also modify our platform in due course to suit other patients and older adults who require rehabilitation,’ Dr Fok said.

‘HKSR is privileged to be able to collaborate in this exciting project,’ said Ng Yuk-mun, Head of Allied Health & Primary Healthcare, HKSR. ‘SmartRehab has the potential to benefit not only stroke patients, but also probably older adults and patients with other neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease and dementia. HKSR is committed to continuously enhancing our rehabilitation services with the application of advances in technology, and we look forward to incorporating SmartRehab into our stroke services, by extension of rehabilitation to the patients’ home setting, to maximise the rehabilitation potential of our patients.’