British govt to assist India in healthcare using AI

The British government is in talks with the Indian government to assist them in healthcare with the help of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data for quicker healthcare solutions, said UK Business Ambassador Sir Malcolm Grant.

Grant, the former chairman of National Health Service (NHS), England, who was here in Bengaluru on Monday, said that there is a shortfall of healthcare facilities in Karnataka as well as across the country. "There are difficulties to reach remote places in Karnataka. Using technology and robotics, we have been successful in diagnosing and performing robotic surgeries pertaining to dermal and pregnancy-related issues and we wish to bring the same in India, and specifically Karnataka," Grant said, adding that there has always been a flow of clinicians from India to the UK.

India has it big in the pharmaceuticals, principally in the generics market. There's been an enormous array of interactions between India and the UK in terms of digital being used for medical devices and research and development, he said.

According to a joint survey by Grant Thornton and Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which was released recently, the indirect employment generated by the UK companies in India was 4,19,370 employees with 8,910 jobs created by the UK in India in the field of drugs and pharmaceuticals.

This study also revealed that Karnataka has received the third highest FDI investment after Maharashtra and Delhi (NCR) among all Indian states and union territories.

"South India received a 67% share of UK investments in the 12 months ending August 2018. Karnataka received 38% of UK investments, followed by Maharashtra at 36% and Tamil Nadu at 29%," the report pointed out.

British investments in India in the field of drugs and pharmaceuticals for the period starting from September 2016 to June 2018 were at $1,067 million.

He further added, "Our ambition is to build the most dynamic global health-tech ecosystem on the planet. We wish to assist in the provision of digital healthcare, telemedicine and quicker diagnosis to provide universal healthcare facilities at a much lower cost, " he said.

He said that Artificial Intelligence in the UK has been in use for a considerable amount of time and is used in areas pertaining to pattern recognition.

The UK has invested $6,153 million in computer software and hardware in the period 2017-18, the GT report suggested.

When asked how AI has been contributing to this, he said that AI and deep learning are being used in Britain for medical imaging, using mobile phones to consult a doctor who is assisted by an AI device. The mobile phone extracts data from your body and provides with possible diagnoses and ultimately pulls out the less likely ones.

An 11-company-strong delegation led by Sir Grant from the UK have come to India to partake in the India/UK Future Tech Festival to be held in Delhi on December 12 where they will focus on partnership opportunities with Karnataka in the digital healthcare space.