Kirinyaga County Government has installed the first Artificial Intelligence (AI) system to enhance disease diagnostic services in the county.
The system that has been installed at Kimbimbi Level Four Hospital’s Radiography Department, and integrated into the Hospital’s X-ray equipment will also reduce the burden of the detection of health conditions by healthcare professionals.
The AI system consists of two key components, with one focusing on enhancing chest findings, thus enabling the detection of conditions such as tuberculosis (TB), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and cancer, and another designed to identify musculoskeletal defects and fractures.
While supervising the installation of the system, the County Director of Health and Medical Services, Dr. Hesbon Gakuo, emphasised the transformative potential of the technology.
“The AI programme will assist radiographers to detect TB more accurately and curb human error misdiagnosis. It will act as an assistive device, detecting abnormalities in the lungs. It also encompasses integration into the digital X-ray machines as well as training of staff on the use of the software,” Dr. Gakuo said.
He noted that the AI project has been implemented at Kimbimbi Hospital since most of the TB cases in the county come from Mwea, which contributed to 40% of the cases in the county in 2023.
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru said that the system would revolutionise healthcare service delivery in the county, underscoring her administration’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology in order to improve on diagnostic accuracy, enhance patient care, and ultimately save lives.
She said the County has made tremendous progress in enhancing health services through the adoption of modern technology.
“AI has emerged as a valuable tool and is being used for disease detection and diagnosis, medical imaging, and analysis, among others. In our healthcare, we are also adopting all the valuable advances in digital healthcare technologies. Digitised healthcare presents numerous opportunities for reducing human errors,” she noted.
The AI project that is being implemented in partnership with the National TB Programme and AMREF Health Africa, among other partners, will also be implemented at Kerugoya County Level Five Hospital and thereafter at other health facilities in the county.
An ICT Officer at the National TB Programme, Timothy Kandie, noted that the AI programme would ease the load on clinicians in diagnosing health abnormalities in patients so as to initiate timely treatment.
He noted that Kenya has not been left behind as the globe moves towards the use of AI, which plays a key role in health matters.
“With the high number of patients coming in, and the limited number of radiologists in the country, this programme will be able to ease the traffic as radiologists will be able to read patients’ images remotely and treat patients accordingly,” Kandie stated.
He explained that AI technology is an end-to-end platform for TB screening, programming, and case management, capable of generating TB interface reports in less than 15 seconds. It has demonstrated remarkable efficiency, boasting a 50% cost savings on confirmatory tests, an 11% increase in additional TB cases detected, and a 90% reduction in X-ray reporting time. The WHO-validated software is currently deployed in over 2,100 sites across 90+ countries.
By Mutai Kipngetich
