Indian-origin fraudster pleads guilty to £227K credit card scam in UK 12 PIO Americans in race for Congressional elections on Nov 6
SHANGHAI: Qu Jianguo, 64, had a futuristic medical visit in Shanghai as he put his wrist through an automated pulsetaking machine and received the result within two minutes on a mobile phone -- without a doctor present.
The small device, which has a half-open clasp that records the heartbeat, is one of the technologies developed by hitech firms aiming to help China offset its shortage of physicians by combining big data and artificial intelligence (AI).
The machine made by Ping An Good Doctor was shown off at the 2018 World AI Expo in Shanghai at a time when Chinese policymakers are making a major push to turn the country into a global tech leader.
"I came here to see how Chinese-style medical treatment could be done without a doctor. That would be really convenient," said Qu, a retired IT worker attending the expo.
China had less than 12 million health workers in 2017 in a population of almost 1.4 billion, according to the National Health Commission.
Ping An Good Doctor, which recently listed in Hong Kong, has one of China's largest online healthcare platforms with 228 million registered patients.
Bi Ge, a company spokesman, said the company receives 500,000 online consultation requests daily.
The pulse-taking machine is part of Ping An Good Doctor's Ai-assisted medical consultation system, which allows patients to do quick preliminary checks and get prescriptions without having to go to the hospital or pharmacy.
Ping An's services include a mobile app in which patients enter their personal data, medical history and describe their symptoms to an Ai-assisted "receptionist" that transfers the information to a real-life doctor for a diagnosis.
"It can definitely ease China's doctor shortage problem... With the assistance of AI, it can relieve doctors from doing the mundane, simple, and repetitive work," said Liu Kang, a former doctor at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
"But China's overall AI development in medical fields is still at the catching-up phase," Liu added.
US and European companies, startups and researchers have also been harnessing AI to apply the technology to various health care needs.
Chinese companies have been learning from other countries to develop and implement Ai-assisted care such as medical imaging diagnosis, robot surgical systems, and drug research and development.
Good doctors in China are highly sought-after, but the supply is low and not equally distributed.
Less than 10 per cent of China's hospitals are considered high-level facilities, but they treat half of the country's patients, according to a 2017 State Information Center report. Big data and Ai-assisted services and remote communication offered by companies such as Ping An allow patients from second- and third-tier cities to access professional advice from qualified doctors based in big cities.
"We are imitating and duplicating the skills of qualified doctors, the ones from tertiary-level (highest-level) hospitals, and spread it to smaller cities and local counties," said Fang Qu, CTO of Proxima, a health care technology company focusing on Ai-assisted medical imaging diagnosis. LONDON: An Indian-origin fraudster arrested by Scotland Yard as part of an anti-fraud operation has pleaded guilty to a credit card scam amounting to nearly 227,000 pounds at a court in London.
Ashley Dominic Singh was arrested from an east London address and charged last week after an appeal by officers from Operation Falcon, the Metropolitan Police's fraud and cyber crime team.
Between March and October 2016, Singh reportedly stole numerous credit cards and mobile phone SIM cards to enable him to take control of victims' bank accounts.
Once accessed, fraudulent transactions totalling GBP 227,000 were made on highvalue goods such as jewellery, designer labels and electronics.
"He appeared at Inner London Crown Court on September 12 and pleaded guilty to all the charges against him, namely: conspiracy to com- Ashley Dominic Singh
mit fraud, transferring criminal property and possessing articles for use in fraud, the Met Police said in a statement this week. Singh, 34, has been remanded in custody to appear for sentencing at the Inner London Crown Court on October 8. Scotland Yard detectives from Operation Falcon had released an image of Singh, who they said was wanted in connection with a series of fraud offences across London and the south east of England. WASHINGTON DC: A record number of 12 Indianamericans are in the fray for the November 6 mid-term Congressional elections.
Three among them -- Hiral Tipirneni and Anita Malik from Arizona and Pramila Jayapal from Washington State -are women.
The first Indian-american woman to enter the US House of Representatives, Jayapal, is seeking re-election from the seventh Congressional district of Washington State. Her victory is considered to be a cake walk, given her popularity and that she represents a Democratic stronghold.
Along with Jayapal, three other Indian-americans -Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois, Ro Khanna and Dr Ami Bera from California -- are seeking re-elections this year. Bera, who was declared winner after recounting of votes in the last three elections, this time faces a tough opponent, Republican Andrew Grant.