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Cough sound-based AI tech to detect Covid, TB

This cough sound-based AI technology is helpful for doctors and patients. This will reduce the immense burden on the hospital as well

VISAKHAPATNAM: An artificial intelligence (AI) enabled technological system that assesses a patient’s respiratory diseases including Covid-19 and tuberculosis brought successful results after being tried out at the Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases (GHCDC) attached to Andhra Medical College (AMC).

This cough sound-based AI technology is helpful for doctors and patients. This will reduce the immense burden on the hospital as well. Further experiments on the extension of the technology for other lung ailments like asthma, bronchitis and COPD are underway.

At present, X-rays, CT scans and other pulmonary tests which depend on laboratories decide the health status of lungs. But under this AI system, the patient can save money and time by not undergoing all those tests.

Salcit Technologies, called Swaasa, developed the AI platform to analyse lung health by taking inputs like cough sounds, temperature, oxygen saturation and symptoms.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) associate programme lead Dr Niranjan Joshi said that the UK and India jointly created the new innovation in the battle to contain Covid-19 and TB.

“This technology allows a patient to cough into a mobile phone and through the power of AI receive an accurate medical assessment of their ailment. That allows doctors and patients to determine whether further tests might be needed and to monitor ongoing cases while saving time and money for everyone,” Joshi said.

British deputy high commissioner for AP and Telangana Dr Andrew Fleming saw the performance of the technology live at the GHCCD here on Saturday. “This is our next success after UK-India Astra-Zeneca vaccine collaboration for containing the Covid-19. I also took the test and received results on the spot within minutes,” Fleming said.

At present, more than 4.3 crore people suffered from Covid-19 in the country wherein five lakh plus people succumbed to the deadly disease. India also has the highest TB burden in the world, recording close to 2.64 million TB cases and 75,000 plus deaths in 2019. A huge percentage of these cases also come from underdeveloped, remote areas without proper access to healthcare services, Joshi told this newspaper.

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