Zydus Hospitals, Medtronic collaborate to launch AI-based stroke care network in Gujarat – ET HealthWorld

Ahmedabad: Zydus Hospitals, Ahmedabad, and India Medtronic Private Limited announced their partnership to support stroke patients in Gujarat via a hub and spoke network. As part of the partnership, Medtronic will collaborate with Zydus Hospitals to build an ecosystem that can help in the timely diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients by facilitating the use of indigenous AI-enabled technology and providing tools and technologies to support the education and training of doctors in select remote hospitals.

In India, nearly 1.8 million patients are affected by stroke each year. In the bigger cities with improved healthcare infrastructure, patients stand a better chance of proper diagnosis, followed by the requisite treatment. However, in the peripheral & rural settings, the challenges are aplenty. The partnership will serve the people of peripheral Gujarat by helping them deal with stroke as a disease effectively. The hub and spoke system works on an advanced AI capable of interpreting a CT scan for a stroke. A team of stroke experts at Zydus hospital (hub) would visualise the CT scan performed at the remote hospital (spoke) and handhold the local physician on further patient management. This way, the physician at the remote hospital is empowered to decide on the future course of action basis the patient’s needs and the patient receives the right treatment at the right time.

Michael Blackwell, Vice President, Medtronic India said, “We’re accelerating the development of technologies that can help patients manage their disease while living their lives to the fullest. Through these collaborations, we can integrate technology to address local healthcare barriers across the care continuum.”

Dr VN Shah, Mentor & Senior Endocrinologist & Metabolic Physician, Zydus Hospitals, stressed the need for a greater patient-centric approach. He said, “Stroke is a big disabler in developing countries like ours. Treatment of any disease starts with quick and efficient detection; the launch of peripheral stroke centres will enhance the survivability of our patients.”

Dr Kalpesh Shah, Senior Consultant, Endovascular Neurosurgery, Zydus Hospitals emphasised, “Timely diagnosis of the disorders with the use of AI even when you are miles away from the specialist hospital can be a lifesaver enabling guided treatment to start immediately under expert supervision.”