37 Military Hospital to offer free AI-powered TB screening

A­ll tuberculosis (TB) patients referred to the 37 Military Hospital will receive free screening using an AI-integrated "MinXray" system, says the Director of Global Health at Qure.ai, Enla Fees.

The AI-powered machine provides instant TB readings, comprehensive lung screenings, and early indications of lung cancer and other key lung conditions.

The TB X-ray machine was donated by Qure.ai, a health tech company that uses deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to make healthcare more accessible and equitable for patients worldwide in partnership with MinXray, an independent corporation that provides compact, portable X-ray imaging equipment and Octogen, a digital business solution firm.

"We believe that the value to the hospital and surrounding communities will be significant in terms of driving access to care", she stated.

She added that the company aimed to expand the initiative across all 261 districts in Ghana to reach vulnerable communities.

"We absolutely do have plans to scale up. Our hope is, we understand that there is an intention ultimately to ensure that the X-ray devices with AI integrated can reach all vulnerable communities across all 261 districts in Ghana", she added.

Ms Fees emphasised the importance of integrating AI into existing healthcare infrastructure to ensure every hospital patient is automatically screened for TB, given that half of TB cases exhibit no symptoms.

low-cost

"X-rays that are already available and working within the hospital system, adding the AI for what we call incidental case finding.

So ensuring that every single patient who comes in to seek care within the hospital's settings is automatically screened for TB and other lung findings.

"By operationalising the use of X-ray and AI, we can automatically at low cost screen every single patient within hospitals that are in high-risk communities to provide them with instantaneous reading of their TB status as well as additional comprehensive lung health findings", she said.
 

TB eradication

The Deputy Chief of Staff (medical) at 37 Military Hospital, Major General Raymond Ewusi, expressed gratitude for the donation, highlighting the need for proactive TB case identification.

"I think that we need to find an active process of making sure that every possible case of TB is identified", he stated.

He explained TB is airborne and highly contagious and that the equipment would help the hospital close the gap in identifying cases and fighting the disease effectively.

He also revealed that while Ghana had projected to detect 44,000 TB cases, only 20,000 were identified last year. “There is a lot more to do, and this equipment will help us get closer to our goal,” he added.

The Director of Medical at Octogen, Nana Bebaako Addo, emphasised that X-rays play a vital role in diagnosing, monitoring, and treating TB, benefiting both individual patients and broader public health efforts.

Call for increased TB funding

The Executive Secretary of the Country Coordinating Mechanism of the Global Fund, Samuel Hackman noted that TB received less global funding compared to malaria and HIV.

He revealed that the current grant Ghana operated with was about $250 million, but only 10 per cent was was allocated to TB.

"That is the representation of the way the global health donors' interest in our TB is doing because if you compare it to malaria which is about $105 million and regulate over $20 million for TB, it tells you that interest in that area is not that much", he said.

He emphasised that data showed TB remained a major health challenge and that the hospital was looking forward to partners like Qure.ai joining efforts to augment donor funding in this sector.