chandigarh eyeing to reduce the burden of tuberculosis tb punjab is all set to use artificial intelligence ai tools for timely diagnosis and treatment of the disease in government healthcare facilitiesthe health department will be leveraging the technology for analysing chest xray images and generating reports aiding doctors in early diagnosis and initiating treatmentwith the central government setting a target to reduce the incidence of new tb cases by 80 by 2025 timely diagnosis and treatment are crucial in controlling the spread of the disease delay in diagnosis not only worsens the disease but also increases its transmission the disease is caused by bacteria mycobacterium tuberculosis that most often affects the lungs and is preventable and curable it spreads from person to person through air various studies have indicated that ai tools are capable of detecting tb in chest xrays at a level comparable to radiologists as punjab has limited radiologist resources the introduction of this computeraided detection technology is expected to benefit the health department by expanding the coverage of screeningto begin with the health department intends to implement the technology in 10 districts on a pilot basis the system will be installed in hospitals that witness good patient footfall and are equipped with xray machines preference will be given to health centres that lack radiologistshimachal pradesh maharashtra karnataka andhra pradesh and tamil nadu are some of the states which have already introduced the technologywith the state government putting in the efforts the incidence rate of the disease has come down in recent years as per the latest india tb report 2023 punjabs case notification rate for 2022 was recorded at 181 which was lower than the rate of 211 and 250 in himachal pradesh and haryana respectivelyout of 52253 tb cases notified till 2021 1407 were cured while 1319 were lost in the followup of the total 1219 patients died