India upgrades CoWIN to track all vax status

The Indian government is upgrading its COVID-19 vaccination platform, CoWIN, to digitally track people's vaccination status against common preventable diseases, including measles, rubella and COVID-19. 

According to a news report, the focus now is on tracking children with zero doses of any vaccine and helping them get immunised under the government's Universal Immunisation Programme. The programme targets around 26 million newborns each year, offering vaccination for 12 vaccine-preventable diseases.

The upgraded CoWIN app, which will be released by the end of December, comes as measles cases have been on the rise in some areas around Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Kerala.

Japan launches study to rollout endoscopic AI diagnosis tool in Vietnam

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan has launched a new four-month study for the potential dissemination of an AI endoscopy diagnosis support tool in Vietnam.

Together with Olympus Corporation, the project will evaluate the effectiveness of Cybernet Systems' EndoBRAIN-EYE software at Cho Ray Hospital and 108 Hospital. Doctors from Japan’s Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital and Shizuoka Cancer Center will also provide expert guidance to Vietnamese doctors regarding the use of the AI tool.

The study follows similar projects done in India and Thailand over the past two years.

NTU Singapore, Imperial College London expands collab to healthcare AI and robotics

NTU Singapore and Imperial College London have recently signed a new strategic partnership to expand the scope of their collaborative research by establishing a new research hub.

The two universities will be setting up the NTU-Imperial Health, Sustainability and Technology Hub, which seeks to focus on tackling pressing challenges in the following areas: healthcare AI and robotics, healthy cities and pollution, energy and sustainability, business and management, neuroscience, and infectious disease modelling.

One of its new research projects includes the development of a diabetes AI network, a press release noted. 

This expanded collaboration builds on NTU Singapore and Imperial College's success in establishing the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in 2013.

Eka Care helps fast-track OPD token implementation in public hospitals

Patient health record app Eka Care has tied up with 11 government hospitals around Karnataka and Delhi to help hasten the implementation of OPD tokens as part of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

The ABDM is promoting the adoption of QR code-based OPD tokens to speed up patient registrations at public hospitals, which previously takes up to an hour. 

Eka Care says it is on track to generate over 100,000 OPD tokens each month at its partner hospitals.