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AI expected to transform and upgrade medical care

(ezhejiang.gov.cn) Updated : 2017-12-08

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Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital and Tencent Holdings Ltd jointly announce the setup of an AI laboratory for the development of medical care in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on Dec 4. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital announced its intention to cooperate with the Chinese tech giant Tencent in building a laboratory for "artificial intelligence (AI) plus medical care" on Dec 4.

It will be an innovative attempt to apply AI technologies in the medical sector.

The president of the hospital, Huang Dongsheng, said the combination of AI and medical care is the right direction for medical innovation, adding that technologies such as image recognition, big data and deep learning can be widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

AI has been applied in cancer tests. "The intelligent image recognition makes it possible to diagnose esophagus cancer in four seconds," said Huang. AI is an effective way to detect cancers at early stages, an inspiring development as early detection is critical for treatment.

Chang Jia, who is in charge of Tencent's "internet plus medical care" plan, proposed the application of AI to support doctors' work and help narrow the gap of medical services between developed and developing regions.

"Once the laboratory is built, we will explore AI's role in payment and other services as well to create an ecosystem for 'AI plus medical care'," said Chang.