Digitizing TB care in rural Karnataka

Qure AI
2 min readAug 4, 2021

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Screening for Tuberculosis Using Artificial Intelligence at Remote (STAR) facilities is a public-private partnership by the State government of Karnataka and Qure.ai to digitize screening and improve the care cascade for Tuberculosis (TB). Using state-of-the-art digital tools in rural areas, the collaboration will demonstrate the impact Artificial Intelligence (AI) can have on TB case identification, including improving case notification rates and placing presumptive patients on treatment as early as possible.

Qure.ai along with the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT), and Association for Public health Technologists (APT) that works closely with the Karnataka State TB Office, have deployed the solution as part of the project in five districts in Karnataka– Chikkaballapur, Koppal, Bellary, Bagalkot, and Belgaum.

Qure’s end-to-end AI-powered disease management platform, qTrack, has been deployed for screening analog X-rays (which is in majority in India) and automating the interpretation for immediate analysis of TB presumptive cases. qTrack was developed in 2019 with support from the India health Fund (IHF). It digitizes the disease workflow and integrates analog chest x-ray interpretation, providing the results in less than a minute. The solution is already deployed in hospitals in Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, and now in Karnataka.

A requirement has been identified for the implementation of TB screening using artificial intelligence in the radiology facilities in the state of Karnataka by the state NTEP. The Qure AI radiography tool was quite easy to use and the implementation process was very simple. The reports providing details of tuberculosis signs on X-rays were great support for better-understanding X-ray results by field physicians” said Dr. Rehana Begum, Deputy Project Lead, Breaking the Barriers, KHPT.

AI will be used for TB screening at Remote Radiology Facilities across five districts under the partnership.

Qure.ai is honored to join hands with Karnataka Team, to fulfill their objective of ‘Kshaya Muktha Karnataka’ and achieving India’s mission of ending TB by 2025.

Dr. Arundati Chandrasekhar IAS, Mission Director — National Health Mission speaking at the launch event

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Qure AI

Qure.ai is a breakthrough AI solution provider that is disrupting the radiology ‘status quo’ by enhancing imaging accuracy and improving health outcomes.