Radiology is crucial for the diagnosis of life-threatening diseases, its monitoring and management. Yet 4 billion people world over have no access to medical imaging solutions. In India, we only have 10,000 radiologists for 1.3 billion people. This leaves many sections of society with no access to radiology solutions. This hampers disease detection and subsequent prevention.
The solution for changing this huge gap is TeleRadiology. Yet the technology has failed in terms of scalability and affordability. A trio decided to change that. In 2018, Amit Kharat, Ajit Patil and Aniruddha Pant founded DeepTek in Pune. Kharat had a DNB and PhD in Radiology along with 17 years of experience. Patil, an IIT alumnus, was co-founder of a Japan-based software service, Vertex Software. Pant has done her PhD from the University of California and was a data science expert.
The venture uses AI tools in the field of radiology to secure speedy medical imaging. DeepTek provides round the clock teleradiology solutions.
They have created AUGMENTO for MRI, CT Scans and X-ray. Their other product is GENKI.
GENKI is an AI-based public health screening solution that detects chest pathologies including tuberculosis and COVID-19 infection.
Initial financial support came from NTTDATA. They have also received support from Nobori, Pentathlon Ventures, GHV Accelerator and DoctorNet. The venture was part of GE Healthcare’s startup cohort. They are planning to go for a Series A funding to be able to provide a variety of disease spectrum and strengthen their existing platform.
They have been used by Greater Chennai Corporation’s TB Free Chennai Initiative. They have achieved 7 patents so far. The venture has collaborated with 150 plus Indian hospitals and 50 global hospitals. They diagnose 2000 scans per day. There is still a long way for this venture to go. Will DeepTek be able to bridge the gap created by the lack of radiologists available in India?