Huawei’s AI Technology to Help Improve COVID-19 Detection Speed and Accuracy
Apr 13, 2020
[Jakarta, Indonesia, 13 April 2020] Rumah Sakit Pusat Pertamina (RSPP) Jakarta, the largest of sixteen hospitals managed by Pertamedika (PT Pertamina Bina Medika) IHC, becomes the first hospital in Indonesia to implement Huawei’s AI technology-based ICT solution, known as AI-Assisted Analysis. The AI technology implementation at RSPP is part of Huawei’s global action in assisting the international community to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Huawei’s contribution in letting medical practitioners make use of its advanced technological capabilities at no cost during the time of pandemic has garnered positive response from RSPP’s management. Dr. dr. Fathema Djan Rachmat, Sp.B, Sp. BTKV (K), MPH, Director of PT Pertamina Bina Medika IHC, states that Indonesia’s health sector still faces a dire challenge: the high mortality rate attributed to COVID-19, estimated to be around 9-10%.
“As of now, one strategic attempt in order to reduce the mortality rate in Indonesia is through increasing the speed of detecting and identifying COVID-19-infected patients with a high accuracy rate. The faster we can do it, the faster we can use medical prowess and knowledge to convert the number of patients testing positive for COVID-19 to negative,” says her.
For this reason, RSPP has given appreciation for Huawei’s committed action in providing the AI-Assisted Analysis solution which is capable of accelerating and increasing the accuracy of COVID-19-infected patients’ diagnosis at RSPP. For her, in the era of Big Data, advanced technologies capable of intelligently and efficiently analyzing data, such as Huawei’s AI technology, becomes vital resources to take advantage of, moreover in Indonesia, a country with a robust population.
Ahmad Hariri, ST, CDT, MM, Pws. Radiologi RSPP, says that RSPP has started implementing Huawei’s AI-Assisted Analysis starting April 2, 2020. According to Ahmad, the technology has significantly impacted how patients receive care from the hospital in a positive manner.
“We very much appreciate the AI-based technology courtesy of Huawei. The solution has been resourceful in helping us increase the speed and accuracy of how we detect and diagnose COVID-19 patients. From the experience we have gathered thus far, we are glad that Huawei’s technology, especially in medicine, has taken yet another step further. The solution has provided our medics working in the front lines against the COVID-19 outbreak with real, tangible benefits for them to carry out their duties,” says Ahmad.
Ahmad explains that using Huawei’s solution, one can immediately figure out a patient’s lung conditions as well as detect an injury in the organ, possibly indicating COVID-19 infection symptoms, prior to confirmation from an expert radiologist.
“The solution is able to detect the formation of Pneumonia in its early stages, for which we have been grateful that we have Huawei’s AI to help us with this. Huawei’s device uses colors to denote a patient’s conditions: green for normal and red for infection. From a non-medical perspective, this solution can also provide useful reference for the radiology team. If a viral infection is found, the volume and segmentations are immediately made known. This provides extra assurance for radiologists as they perform their analysis,” he explains.
The accuracy level is exceptionally high: out of 50 patients tested, the AI managed to score an accuracy level of 93%. Ahmad is optimistic that the influx of data to be analyzed by AI in the future will produce even more precise results.
Ken Qijian, Vice President Public Affairs and Communications Huawei Indonesia, remarks, “The contribution is part of our corporate social responsibility for the world, including Indonesia. We hope that the synergy between Huawei’s technological capacity and expertise in other fields, with medicine being one such field, the world will soon solve the COVID-19 problem. Let us join hands together and unite to defeat the pandemic. We stand as One!”