IBM, today announced its collaboration with RITE Solutions Limited to deploy Watson for Oncology, a cognitive computing platform trained by Memorial Sloan Kettering, in hospitals in Bangladesh. Under this agreement with IBM, RITE Solutions will work with hospitals across the country to support physicians to provide personalized, evidence-based cancer care. This agreement marks the first IBM Watson partnership in Bangladesh.
According to National Centre for Biotechnology Information report, there are 1.5 million cancer patients in Bangladesh, with more than 200,000 patients newly diagnosed with cancer each year. Compounding the growing health challenge, Bangladesh faces an acute shortage of oncologists available to fight the disease in the country. There are just 150 qualified clinical oncologists and 16 pediatric oncologists in the entire country and only 1 clinical oncologist for every 10,000 cancer patients.
Watson for Oncology will serve as a new tool in the country’s fight against the deadly disease. RITE Solutions has already partnered with Bangladesh Specialized Hospital and Ahsania Mission Cancer Hospital, who are now leveraging Watson for Oncology. RITE Solutions will help to transform cancer treatment in Bangladesh by providing hospitals with access to Watson for Oncology to Bangladeshi physicians. Watson for Oncology helps to:
“There is a pressing need to provide quality oncology expertise to the people in our country, and through our collaboration with IBM, we aim to help physicians provide personalized care to every single patient in Bangladesh. Apart, from providing quality health care for people in Bangladesh, we also want to serve Nepal, Bhutan and eastern India. Watson for Oncology has the power to transform how doctors battle cancer in Bangladesh and around the world. With Watson for Oncology, oncologists will be able to make an informed treatment decision for patients based on insights derived from the individuals’ unique health status, the latest medical research, journals and other relevant data,” said, Ridwan Mustafiz CEO of RITESolutions.
“Our goal in collaborating with RITE Solutions is to help democratize access to the growing body of cancer knowledge available today,” said Navinder Sachar, Sales Leader, Watson Health, IBM India/ SA.
“With the rising incidence of cancer in the region and lack of trained clinicians we see such systems serving large populations across Bangladesh and neighboring countries including Eastern India covering four States. Watson provides actionable insights based on that data at the point of care for the treating oncologist.”
Watson represents a fundamental shift in the paradigm of computing, moving from programmable systems that have been the mainstay for the last several decades to learning systems that keep getting better as they process more knowledge. Based on cutting-edge research led by IBM computer scientists, Watson has the ability to read and understand natural language.
To date, Watson for Oncology has ingested nearly 15 million pages of medical content, including more than 200 medical textbooks and 300 medical journals. With its unmatched capabilities to absorb a massive amount of medical data, Watson for Oncology helps the doctors to offer effectual treatment to the patients.
