C-CAMP supported by FCDO, UK showcases AI driven technology for triaging of COVID-19 & Tuberculosis

New Delhi: The UK and India have come together and successfully created a new innovation in the battle to contain killer lung diseases such as COVID-19 and Tuberculosis (TB).

Enabled by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms, (C-CAMP), with support from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), this C-CAMP portfolio 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.

C-CAMP portfolio start-up Salcit Technologies had first developed an AI driven, patented platform Swaasa for general lung assessment using cough sounds. Under the consortium project supported by the FCDO, UK Govt, and led by C-CAMP, C-CAMP brought together technical, clinical & health systems expertise through Salcit Technologies, Andhra Medical College (AMC), and PATH to extend and develop this platform to triage for COVID-19 and TB.

The development, validation & pilot deployment of this technology has been extremely promising, with  triaging results showing more than 95% sensitivity  under laboratory conditions for COVID-19.  There will be further testing ‘in the field’, but all signs are good for future scale-up, focused on low resource settings in India and beyond.

With even the poorest households having accesses to a mobile phone, the innovation is ultra-scalable and potentially makes the biggest difference to the people with the least time and money, and poor access to healthcare services.

The technology was showcased recently at the Govt. Chest & TB Hospital, Andhra Medical College, Vishakhapatnam to the British Deputy High Commissioner to Andhra Pradesh and Telagana, Dr. Andrew Fleming in the presence of Dr. Niranjan Joshi, Associate Programme Lead, C-CAMP, Dr. P.V Sudhakar, Former Principal, AMC, Dr. K.V.V. Vijaya Kumar, The Superintendent, Chest & TB Hospital, and Mr. Manmohan Jain, CSO, Salcit Technologies.

At the showcase, Dr Andrew Fleming, British Deputy High Commissioner said, “After the success of the UK-India Astra-Zeneca vaccine collaboration, our bilateral unique healthtech partnership goes from strength to strength with this AI solution that the UK government has supported. Through this technology, patients can have huge savings in terms of cost and time to the health system.” He also checked the functionality of the technology by taking the test and receiving the results on the spot, through the Swaasa app within less than a minute.

On the occasion, Dr. K. V. V. Vijaya Kumar, the Superintendent, Chest & TB Hospital said, “I thank C-CAMP for bringing all of us on the common platform. Tools such as this cough sound based AI technology are very helpful for us. This will reduce immense burden on the hospital. We hope that this technology can be extended even further for other lung ailments like Asthma, Bronchitis, COPD and so forth.”

Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, C-CAMP CEO & Director said “For more than 10 years, C-CAMP has played a major role in India in enabling deep-tech innovations from very early stage with entrepreneurship as a vehicle. We have now supported more than 300 innovations. This AI platform by Salcit is one such example of C-CAMP’s efforts. Once developed & proven, these innovations will not only create impact for the society in India, but also be scaled in other Low & Middle Income geographies across the world.”