ICMR Incorporates IBM Watson To Process COVID-19 Data To Improve Response Rate

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has now collaborated with IBM to implement Watson virtual agent or Watson assistant to respond to queries of the frontline staff and to streamline the data entry operations of the various testing and diagnostic facilities across the country.

The IBM Watson virtual agent is incorporated into the secure pages of the ICMR website, which can only be accessed by an authorized figure, who is involved with testing and sample collection. IBM Watson will be in charge of data processing, which includes kits and other chemical inventory status, processing the raw data, and forwarding it to various agencies without any delay.

The AI-powered IBM Watson virtual agent can understand and process data that is in English and Hindi. It can process a large chunk of data quickly and accurately and it works 24x7.

Humans tend to make errors and at times even a small mistake would make us pay a hefty price. When the data is handled by artificial intelligence, it is least likely to make a mistake and the overall data processing is much faster when compared to the manual process. In fact, AI and machine learning are also used in finding a cure for coronavirus and various agencies are working with different brands to find a cure.

While India has been able to manage COVID-19 to a certain extent, the challenge still continues to minimize further. It is critical to remain focused on testing, diagnosis, and treatment in order to lower the growth curve. With the number of on-field testing teams expanding across the nation as part of India’s COVID-19 measures, this collaboration with IBM will help automate responses from the field & facilitate access to accurate & updated data on COVID-19 diagnostics & reporting.

This will help augment our teams' response time and allow them to concentrate on priorities like developing & updating testing & treatment protocols and guidance for COVID-19, said Professor Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).