British media: Ai popularization drives China's medical progress

Source: Global Times

British "Nature" october 6 article, original title: China's data-driven dream of comprehensive medical reform In early 2020, Wang Guangyu watched the number of new crown cases around the world increase. As the number of patients in hospitals increases, delays in medical imaging and other medical processes are becoming more severe. The biomedical engineer and his team, who are engaged in artificial intelligence (AI) research, began working with people from research institutes and hospitals across China, including biomedical engineers, radiologists, respiratory specialists, clinicians and more.

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The team of experts worked long hours for more than two months, testing the software using 145,000 chest X-rays from multiple hospitals to develop an algorithm that could identify respiratory diseases, including COVID-19, with more than 90 percent accuracy. Since then, the software has been used by several hospitals to reduce the workload of radiology departments. The relevant data and codes have been deposited into the National Bioinformatics Center of China to assist in global COVID-19 research.

Li Weimin, one of the study's collaborators, said that despite his clinical background, collaboration with AI and informatics researchers made him feel at ease. Today, such cooperation is becoming more and more common in China. In recent years, the National Health Commission and other departments have actively encouraged clinicians to cooperate with relevant experts.

Wang and Li's project is just one of the results of China's long-term planning and investment in AI technology and centralized medical data, and one of the crystallization of the culture of cooperation between researchers and clinicians. Over the past decade, central government grants and top-down policies have helped transform China's healthcare research into data-driven fields where computer and machine engineering can reduce the stress on health workers.

Hu Yipeng, a biomedical engineer at University College London, said the collaboration had pushed the Chinese research team to work quickly, "and if there are certain factors that have played a role, it is that [the technology in China] is usually tested and used in hospitals faster than in other countries."

This kind of passion can also be seen in academia and the private sector. AI technology has developed rapidly, and the field of intelligent diagnosis has expanded rapidly. China has invested heavily in its own healthcare research infrastructure. For example, from the project budget of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, R&D investment has soared from US$4.6 billion in 2006 to 2010 to US$13.7 billion from 2011 to 2015 and TO US$19.6 billion from 2016 to 2020. The increase in funding has narrowed the gap between China and the United States in R&D funding.

(China) The mindset of biomedical researchers about using AI technology has also changed. Experts say that just 5 years ago, many scientists in China still did not believe in the power of AI. But now, more and more scientists are beginning to believe that AI will be used in biomedical research. (By Sarah Omela, translated by Ding Yue)