The Telangana government would adopt Microsoft’s cloud-based analytics for Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, its healthcare screening programme for children.
It has also decided to adopt the Microsoft Intelligent Network for Eyecare (MINE), an AI platform, to reduce avoidable blindness thus becoming the first State in the country to deploy artificial intelligence for eye care screening.
Pilot project
The State government and Microsoft had in November 2016 signed an MoU to use the latter’s cloud technology to drive citizen services and digital inclusion. Under the MoU, the Microsoft India conducted a cloud-based, advanced analytics pilot project to understand the health screening programme among children from birth to 18 years in 10 districts, a release said.
The process involved health screenings of school students, carried out by mobile health teams under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, under the National Health Mission. The pilot project, using Microsoft’s advanced analytics, helped the State government get insights by highlighting major conditions affecting the health of children.
The project was now being scaled to a full-fledged solution. One of the insights already derived indicated that vision impairment was one of the most prevalent health issues among children. The State government has decided to adopt MINE to address this issue which would help them make in early interventions and preventing or treating instances of refractive errors, the release said.
IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao said the collaboration between the Health and IT departments and Microsoft has resulted in a solution that would make a huge difference to the lives of the people in the country, starting with Telangana. IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan said the initiative, in partnership with the Microsoft, can potentially touch up to 60 lakh children who would be screened for health conditions under the RBSK.
In December, the Microsoft India with L.V. Prasad Eye Institute had launched MINE, a global consortium of eye care providers, research and academic institutions joining hands to apply artificial intelligence to help in the elimination of avoidable blindness and scale delivery of eye care services worldwide, the release said.
