Maharashtra CM Launches New Artificial Intelligence Centre For Rural Healthcare

The Government of Maharashtra on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with the NITI Aayog and Wadhwani AI group to launch the International Centre for Transformational Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI) focusing on the rural healthcare. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that this project was aimed at a greater collaboration in the healthcare sector. ICTAI is to focus on quality healthcare to accelerate research, diagnosis and treatment delivery of diseases like cancer, tuberculosis. It also aims at capacity and capability enhancement of health workers and wellness centres in general. “We are looking forward to understanding the issues that plague healthcare, especially rural, and implementing solutions derived out of the data research and AI,” P Anandan from Wadhwani AI told a leading national daily. https://twitter.com/CMOMaharashtra/status/1062285972958859264 The Chief Minister's office added that the key partners for projects are PATH, LEHS-WISH, IIT Madras, TATA Trust and the Stanford centre for population health sciences are the core partners in this project. ICTAI launch can be regarded as one of the results of a discussion paper which addresses the national strategy on artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies in India. Here, the government think tank identified five sectors to focus its efforts towards the implementation of AI to serve societal needs. The five sectors are:

• Healthcare: increased access and affordability of quality healthcare
• Agriculture: enhanced farmers’ income, increased farm productivity and reduction of wastage
• Education: improved access and quality of education
• Smart Cities and Infrastructure: efficient and connectivity for the burgeoning urban population
• Smart Mobility and Transportation: smarter and safer modes of transportation and better traffic and congestion problems