Covid-19: Malaysian hospitals may soon see Huawei Cloud AI-assistance

By Xavier Kong

MALAYSIAN hospitals may soon see the deployment of Huawei Cloud’s artificial intelligence-assisted computed tomography (CT) scanning in helping to screen Covid-19 patients, with the Ministry of Health already allowing the deployment of such a system at a major hospital on the frontline of fighting the pandemic, according to Lim Chee Siong, Vice President of Huawei Cloud, Southern Pacific Region.

The process will involve the use of a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) which securely stores and digitally transmits electronic images and clinically-relevant reports to the cloud. These images can then be assessed by the AI, which automatically segments the lung lesions and measures the lesion volume. This accelerates the segmentation and, thus, the screening process, allowing for quicker answers and less time spent by clinicians.

This information was shared by Qiao Nan, R&D director of Huawei Cloud EIHealth, during the group’s Fighting Covid-19 with Technology online conference, where Huawei Cloud shared its initiatives and resources that are being made available to the world in battling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Deng Tao, the president of Huawei Cloud Global Market, shared that the requirements in terms of local infrastructure for hospitals are the PACS CT scanning system, as well as local network connectivity for transferring the images for analysis.

“It will take more time to finish the analysis, especially if network conditions are bad, and a local partner may need to be introduced,” said Deng.

This comes as part of three avenues through which Huawei Cloud is offering its assistance. Not only has it launched a global action plan to help customers around the world to fight Covid-19 with cloud and AI services, but it will also be providing free AI and cloud services while recruiting partners around the world.

“Huawei Cloud has been working with partners in China to use innovative technologies such as cloud and AI to fight the pandemic, and has accumulated practical experience with AI-assisted CT scan analysis, drug discovery, online education, and telecommuting technologies,” said Deng.

“Now, we are launching this international action plan to share our practical experience to the international market. We will make every effort to leverage technology to help our customers around the world cope with challenges faced in the midst of this crisis,” he added.

These technologies include the use of AI in viral genome detection, antiviral drug screening, and the aforementioned CT scan analysis.

In the education sector, Huawei Cloud is providing online education services to schools and other institutions, while aiding enterprises in migrating businesses to the cloud to ensure business continuity.

Huawei Cloud has also released the Anti-Covid-19 Partner Programme, a programme focused on five main scenarios, which are the remote office, AI support, enterprise assistance, smart healthcare, and online education scenarios. Partners who participate in this can obtain comprehensive business, technological, and market support, as well as the opportunity to get free cloud resources worth up to US$30,000. – April 3, 2020

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