South Korea’s AI-based medical analysis solutions company, JLK Inspection, announced the recent signing of an agreement with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in Lao PDR, a US based INGO to support the Lao PDR National TB Center (NTC) in strengthening and expanding access to tuberculosis screening via AI enabled CXR reading.

CHAI is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries.

The project between JLK Inspection, CHAI and NTC officially started in Lao PDR on 20 February 2020. JLK Inspection's "JLD-02K", an AI-based lung disease analysis solution, was officially selected as the partner by CHAI on behalf of the Lao PDR NTC in December 2019.

The "JLD-02K" solution provides convenience to clinicians while also supporting higher precision of analysis. The use of the solution is expected to help address the problem of low radiologist capacity while also cutting down the costs of the screening.

WHY IT MATTERS

JLK Inspection's 'JLD-02K' has achieved its unique commercial compatibility to operate on a mini-PC or even on a laptop, not required to operate on high-end workstations. This is particularly useful for healthcare providers or clinics which may not have the technical infrastructure to support such AI-based analysis solutions. 

“In the past, accessing health care has not always been easy in Lao PDR. For poor families in remote rural areas, even the cost of travelling to the nearest hospital or health center can be a major barrier to access,” said Dr Mark Jacobs, WHO Representative to Lao PDR, in a WHO news release in September 2019.

Tools such as ‘JLD-02K’ can improve the work of clinicians while providing accessibility at low cost to the masses. Laos reports around 3,300 tuberculosis-related deaths annually, making it one of the countries with the highest prevalence of TB, with an incidence of 182 per 100,000, and a death rate of 53 per 100,000, according to a Xinhua report in 2017.

THE LARGER TREND

JLK Inspection was founded in 2014 and became Korea’s first AI-based medical firm to be listed on the KOSDAQ in December 2019.

ON THE RECORD

"(We) are very pleased to be selected as a partnering company of Lao PDR NTC and CHAI's TB case finding project after a competitive bidding process among leading artificial intelligence companies from around the world and are pleased to see the achievement of our technological competitiveness. We look forward to further exploring the overseas market," said JLK Inspection’s spokesperson in a statement.