Healthcare is one of the most vital fields of AI applications. Some of the greatest healthcare innovations today have a significant AI component. For instance, AI helped quicken the process of bouncing back from the global effect of the COVID-19 pandemic that lasted close to two years. AI was leveraged for multiple purposes in the healthcare industry– from early-COVID-19 detection to providing assistance to patients and drug repurposing.
According to Research and Markets, the application of AI in healthcare in India will be valued at Rs 431.97 billion by 2021, growing at a rate of about 40 percent. This is all the more significant for a country like India since the doctor-patient ratio in the country is 1:1456, way lower than the World Health Organisation recommended 1:1000 ratio. The report further suggests that with the increasing use of AI in healthcare, India is expected to reach 6.9:1000 in 2023, as compared to 4.8:1000 in 2017.
Today, we have curated a list of companies bringing AI into healthcare.
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Niramai
Bengaluru-based Niramai Health Analytix was founded in 2016 by Geetha Manjunath and Nidhi Mathur. The health tech startup has developed Thermalytix that uses AI and a high-resolution thermal sensing device for the detection of breast cancer at an earlier stage than the usual traditional methods or self-examination. The software-based medical device is low-cost, automated and portable, making cancer screening possible in all clinics. The core technology is based on ML algorithms.
Qure.ai
Founded by Prashant Warier and Pooja Rao in 2016, Mumbai-based Qure.ai uses AI to make healthcare solutions affordable and accessible. It uses deep learning algorithms to interpret and radiology images and scans– chest X-rays, head CT scans, POQUS, chest CT scans, etc — within a couple of seconds. It also has community solutions for COVID-19, public health and tuberculosis.
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HealthifyMe
Founded in 2012, HealthifyMe is a Bengaluru-based digital health and wellness platform. Founders Tushar Vashisht, Sachin Shenoy and Mathew Cherian founded the company with the aim of introducing digital healthcare to Indians. It uses an AI-based virtual assistant, Ria, that keeps in touch with its users and solves their queries around fitness, nutrition, and health in 10 different languages. Additionally, the app provides dietary recommendations, uses AI to track calorie intake and provides suitable healthy recipes and tips.
PharmEasy
Mumbai-based PharmEasy was founded in 2015 by Dharmil Sheth, Mikhil Innani and Dhaval Shah to develop an application connecting users with pharmacies. The smartphone-based app connects users with these pharmacies to make seamless medical deliveries.
PharmEasy uses ML and Big Data tools, including Tensorflow, Hadoop, HBase, Kafka, Spark and Hive. Additionally, it uses a lot of data crunching and analytics solutions for the app. It has partnered with more than 80,000 pharmacies across 1200-plus cities in the country, serving more than five million customers.
SigTuple Technologies
Bengaluru-based SigTuple Technologies was founded in 2015 by Tathagoto Rai Dastidar, Apurv Anand and Rohit Pandey. SigTuple is on a mission to automate the manual review of medical data– blood sample, urine and semen microscopy, retinal image analysis — using AI. It operates in the fields of pathology and ophthalmology, offering an automated digital microscope and AI platform as solutions. Earlier last year, two co-founders left the team and Tathagoto took over as the CEO.
OncoStem Diagnostics
2011-founded OncoStem Diagnostics integrates ML algorithms to assess the aggressiveness of tumours and identify the characteristics of recurrence risk over five years. Its flagship product CanAssist uses data support vector machine-based statistical models to assign risk scores based on five biomarkers and clinicopathological information for each patient. The team works in techniques including Support Vector Machines with linear and Radial Basis Function kernels, Random Forest, Elastic Net, and normal mixture modeling.
Artelus
Bengaluru-based Artelus was founded by Pradeep Walia, Rajarajeshwari K and Vish Durga in 2015. The health tech startup applies deep learning technology for diabetic retinopathy screening. AI-powered algorithms review the images for diagnosis.
Artelus is operational across 502 locations (in India, US and Dubai) and has so far helped in the screening of more than 81,000 patients. The health tech startup has recently developed an AI-powered contactless diabetic retinopathy screening system that can conduct an eye examination in less than three minutes.
Tricog
Bengaluru-based healthcare analytics company Tricog was founded in 2014 by Chirat Bhograj, Zainul Charbiwala, Udayan Dasgupta and Abhinav Gujjar. Its products include:
- InstaECG: the flagship product is a cloud-connected device that helps interpret and analyse ECG reports within just 10 minutes.
- InstaEcho: Another cardiac product that assists doctors in the quick and accurate echocardiogram diagnosis within a few hours of test.
So far, Tricog has served in more than 12 countries, empowering 2,600-plus health workers, impacting more than three million patients and saving 90,000-plus lives. It was also awarded the NASSCOM Artificial Intelligence Game Changer Award in 2018.
