Alibaba Health partners with leading Chinese hospitals to develop use of AI in healthcare

Alibaba Health is partnering with three leading Chinese hospitals to launch an AI medical lab.

The healthcare arm of Alibaba Group Holding Limited, Alibaba Health has signed cooperation deals with two affiliate hospitals of Zhejiang University and with Xinghua Hospital which is affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.  

It is hoped the AI medical lab will assist an ageing China in dealing with problems such as diabetes and hypertension, as well as other chronic illnesses which are on the rise in the country.

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An estimated 110mn Chinese people now suffer from diabetes and around 330mn suffer from hypertension or high blood pressure.

A public platform will be set up to support diagnostics and clinical decisions.

According to Wang Lei at the Hangzhou Cloud Conference on Friday, healthcare has become “a phenomenon industry” thanks to the Internet of Things.

According to the South China Morning Post, Wang Weilin, director of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University and Vice Chairman of the Chinese Hospital Association commented: “Quality medical resources are concentrated in big cities, while medical services in many other parts of China show inadequate capability… AI technology can help address such an imbalance and improve screening of high-risk diseases.”

The move follows Alibaba’s development of “Doctor You” earlier this year, which used AI to read CAT scans to identify early indications of cancer.