Watson Health Has More Than 15,000 Clients And Partners

IBM Watson Health completed three years in business. Is the supercomputer technology living up to the audacious expectations, IBM created for it in the beginning? Sandeep Makhijani, Watson Health Leader, Asia Pacific, IBM Watson Health reveals their progress and plans with Raelene Kambli

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What is IBM's vision towards solving the most pressing health challenges through data and AI insights?

IBM launched Watson Health three years ago with a clear goal of find the best ways to bring AI and other technologies to help medical and health professionals tackle the world’s biggest healthcare challenges. We are continuing to improve the ways that Watson Health technologies can be integrated into clinicians’ workflows and existing processes, as well as continuing our focus on scientific research and localising products. We’re continuing to focus on our efforts in this area to build trust and ensure our technology is delivering clinical value.

Tell us about Watson's achievements in India so far?

We have collaborations with many hospitals in the Asia Pacific region, (which includes India) as well as across the world for implementing IBM Watson Healthcare solutions. In India, we have two leading healthcare entities – Apollo Hospitals and Manipal Hospitals - who have adopted Watson for Oncology. At Manipal Hospitals, for example, the multidisciplinary tumour board uses Watson for Oncology to review challenging cases, and they have found that the technology is 92 per cent concordant with their multidisciplinary tumour board, according to a study in the Annals of Oncology.

How does the technology actually work for Indian physicians and patients?

Emerging technologies like AI are set to transform the healthcare sector in India.

From hospital care to clinical research, AI applications are changing how the health sector works to reduce cost and improve patient care. At Watson Health, we have impacted over 15,000 clients and partners, 80,000 professionals and 185,000 patients and consumers with our AI solutions.