Health tech start-up to launch AI-based solution to detect serious Covid cases using X-Ray, MRI or CT scans

Pune-based health tech start-up DeepTek Medical Imaging is launching an AI-based radiology solution that helps detect serious Covid-19 cases using X-Ray, MRI or CT scans.

DeepTek has carried out trials in two large hospitals in Mumbai and Pune— the two worst Covid-hit cities in the country. Trials began in May 2020, and after successfully analyzing 3,000 Covid-19 positive cases, the company is now launching the product in the market.

DeepTek is a two-year-old company founded Ajit Patil, Dr Amit Kharat and Aniruddha Pant. Kharat is a radiologist, Patil is a serial entrepreneur and alumni of IIT Kharagpur while Pant is a data scientist with a PhD from Berkeley.

DeepTek aims to make quality radiology services more affordable and accessible by leveraging the power of AI. It is amongst very few radiology AI companies to translate its technology in a commercial mode. Currently it is servicing over 70 hospitals and imaging centers and governments in India and APAC region in their tuberculosis health screening programme. The Covid solution is a further building upon the TB work done by DeepTek. Patil says this is a cheaper and faster way to know whether the patients are serious and need immediate hospitalisation, isolation or home quarantine.

DeepTek Medical has collaborated with Japanese company MDM for working on a AI led solution to screen coronavirus using AI tools for analysing medical scans like X-Ray, CT and MRI.

The new system screens for Covid-19 using chest radiography. DeepTek has already deployed a similar screening solution for tuberculosis. It instantaneously processes chest radiographs to identify potential TB and other infections. This solution has been used for public health screening of over 75,000 individuals in India and in APAC region.

The same technology is used for Covid, in which the healthcare professional can easily separate the serious patients immediately and start treating them in Covid specific hospital and wards, Patil said.

It also ensures that non-Covid cases are not kept with Covid infected patients till the test results come in, he said. DeepTek’s solution will process chest radiographs to screen a sub-class of the broader condition of pneumonia using deep learning algorithms. This can be helpful in screening for epidemics and pandemics like the Covid-19, SARS and H1N1.

DeepTek is is backed by a host of Japanese companies. The latest being Japan’s largest teleradiology company Doctor-NET which invested an undisclosed sum in DeepTek. Doctor-NET is into remote image diagnosis support and supports 1.8 million cases annually with 800 radiological specialists in Japan, making it the largest radiology diagnostic specialist platform.

They will together develop AI-RAD, a platform that will combine their remote image diagnoses expertise and leveraging DeepTek’s AI technology to improve quality and reduce turnaround time of reporting.

DeepTek’s earliest investments came from NTT Data, Japan. This was followed investments by GHV, an Indo-Japanese venture accelerator, Nobori, a medical imaging solutions provider and part of Mitsui, Japan and Pentathlon Ventures, a Pune based tech focused VC and accelerator.

According to Patil, outsourcing of radiology is now a multi-billion dollar global market opportunity. It is in early stages and estimated to be at $13 billion. In the current scenario, the healthcare industry needs cutting edge health solutions and innovation to overcome the challenges faced all over the world by healthcare professionals, Patil said.

DeepTek has already clocked revenues of Rs 9 crore this fiscal and is set to grow by two fold, Patil said. Currently around 60% of DeepTek’s business comes from India, 30% from Japan and balance from APAC region. The company has a team of 55 and is on a recruitment spree.