Chinese multinational technology group Huawei is doubling down on its investment in AI in healthcare, taking to the market transformative solutions set to disrupt the industry, which is critical to socioeconomic development.
Huawei, which has a big presence in South Africa, where it provides solutions to sectors ranging from energy and banking to mining, has in its domestic market launched and promoted its AI+ healthcare initiative as it sets its sights on unleashing AI to aid medical research.
The group, in collaboration with a Shanghai hospital, has launched a pathology model that provides end-to-end clinical pathology support, covering 19 common cancer types that account for 90% of cancer cases in China annually, the company said.
“The healthcare and pathology industry faces challenges in data storage, data sharing, remote pathological diagnosis and regional pathology consultations. Huawei has launched the Digital Pathology Solution to address these challenges through technologies such as lossless data compression algorithms, lossless multiprotocol interoperability, all-in-one systems and remote collaboration,” the company said.
‘Diagnostic efficiency '
“This solution ensures the full-lifecycle storage and quality management of digital pathology data and supports multidisciplinary team (MDT) consultations and pathology education. It also enables second-level access to more than 1,000 pathological sections, reducing storage use by 45% and significantly improving diagnostic efficiency with large numbers of pathological sections.”
William Zhang, president of the Huawei healthcare business unit, said the solutions they have developed and are rolling out in China can be replicated in South Africa.
“The technology can be very helpful in South Africa and Africa by improving the healthcare conditions. It can also help to quickly upscale doctors so that they can teach technology better to their students,” he said on the sidelines of the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain, this week.
One of Spain’s leading private healthcare providers, HM Hospitals, on Tuesday announced that it was launching Huawei’s first smart healthcare in Europe.
HM Hospitals, which employs about 7,000 people, will introduce Huawei’s solutions such as Medical Technology Digitalisation (MTD) and Smart Hospital Campus.
The technology can be very helpful in South Africa and Africa by improving the healthcare conditions.
— William Zhang, president of the Huawei healthcare business unit
The MTD solution implements AI-assisted diagnosis and intelligent quality control, facilitating precision healthcare as well as hierarchical diagnosis and treatment.
South Africa’s private healthcare providers have already begun deploying AI in their operations. One of the country’s largest private healthcare groups, Netcare, last year said it was planning to introduce medical-grade wearable devices to monitor patients’ vital statistics using AI.
Huawei was also using 5G and cloud technologies to promote cross-border telemedicine collaboration, helping to address the lack of medical resources in remote areas, while it has also taken to market its Smart Clinic Solution to enable AI-powered core workflows to improve clinics’ efficiency and service quality.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.