Telangana to use MS' cloud-based analytics for health plan

The Telangana government will adopt Microsoft India's cloud-based analytics for its health care screening programme for children.
The government today said it has signed an agreement with the US technology giant for using its platform for driving the programme, Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram.
According to an official release, the state has also agreed to adopt Microsoft Intelligent Network for Eyecare (MINE), an Artificial Intelligence platform to reduce avoidable blindness.
With this, Telangana has become the first state in India to deploy artificial intelligence for eyecare screening, it said.
The state government and Microsoft had signed an MoU in November 2016 to use the latter's cloud technology to drive citizen services and digital inclusion.

Under this MoU, Microsoft India conducted a cloud- based, advanced analytics pilot project to understand the health screening programme among children from birth to 18 years in 10 districts.

K T Rama Rao, Minister of IT, said, "We are very pleased to announce that Telangana will be the first state in India to bring AI in public health screening and we are excited about how technology has the potential to make great social impact.
"The collaboration between our health and IT departments and Microsoft is going to make a huge difference to the lives of the people in our country, starting with our state."

Anil Bhansali, Corporate Vice-President, Cloud and Enterprise, and Managing Director, Microsoft India (R&D) Pvt. Ltd, said, "We have been focused on accelerating digital transformation in India using our advanced machine learning and cloud technologies.
"We are pleased to strengthen our partnership with the Government of Telangana by bringing the combined power of data, cloud and advanced analytics to drive the state's missions around healthcare and digital inclusion.