AI to manage X-ray tests for visas in Dubai
dubai — Quick, more accurate chest X-ray reports will now be delivered by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) as it deploys Artificial Intelligence (AI) across its medical fitness centres. The X-ray report will be issued in minutes instead of days.
The authority on Tuesday announced the preliminary results of the chest X-ray AI algorithm that it is now using across its medical fitness centres. The collaboration is the first augmented intelligence (AI) validation in the UAE with an accuracy of over 90 per cent.
“The DHA has 1,300 employees and with the two million visitors coming to Dubai, it was a choice between hiring more staff or using AI,” said Dr Mohammed Al Redha, director of Transformational Office.
Over 2,500 images are processed daily at the DHA’s 20 medical fitness centres across the emirate. “This is a burden on medical professionals and there is always a chance of results being read wrong due to human error,” he said.
The algorithm will detect all kinds of chest diseases, including tuberculosis, which leaves spots on the lungs and could affect the visa status of any resident as per UAE laws.
“Even while we are using the algorithm, human skills are still needed. So both systems are being
The DHA has 1,300 employees and with the two million visitors coming to Dubai, it was a choice between hiring more staff or using AI.” Dr Dr Mohammed Al Redha, director, Transformational Office
used at this point,” he added. In cases, where spots on the lungs are detected, doctors will re-check to confirm the status of the disease.
“The AI only detects and does not treat,” said Dr Redha.
The DHA began reviewing the use of AI-enabled workflows in radiology with Agfa HealthCare more than two years ago. Upon completion of phase one of onsite validation early in January, and on analysis of preliminary data, the algorithm was able to correctly identify diseases in chest X-rays approximately 90 per cent of the time and phase two results in March 2018 showed further improved sensitivity to 95 per cent. Humaid Al Qattami, chairman of the board and director-general of the DHA, said: “We are keen to foster the use of technology in the health sector to improve healthcare management and overall workflow,and most importantly to further improve patient-centric care.”
The total number of people who visited the DHA-run medical fitness centres during 2017 for new visas and renewal were 2.13 million. Medical fitness test is a mandatory requirement for all expats in the UAE. It is required for a residency, employment or education visa.
Dr Redha added: “The results are very promising. The DHA will establish a framework of AI workflow to augment radiology imaging, including in the area of detecting diseases and we will collaborate to validate machine-learning algorithms in development.”
Maisa Al Bustani, director of Medical Fitness at the DHA, said that based on preliminary results, the DHA perceives benefits such as workflow automation for radiologists — ability to focus on suspected chest X-rays faster instead of manual searching, automated report templates, improved turn-around times — expand the scope of chest X-ray screening programme to add more volume and capacity and improved patient satisfaction by providing fast results and reports.