Aarthi Scans & Koita Centre for Digital Health Sign MoU for R&D Collaboration in AI-based Medical Imaging

This partnership brings together Aarthi Scans & Labs' extensive, diverse radiological data infrastructure with the research expertise of Ashoka's Koita Centre for Digital Health.

Chennai-based diagnostic provider Aarthi Scans & Labs and the Koita Centre for Digital Health (KCDH) at Ashoka University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on research and development in AI-based medical imaging.

The collaboration aims to close this gap by developing and validating AI models on Indian data in Indian clinical settings.

This partnership brings together Aarthi Scans & Labs' extensive, diverse radiological data infrastructure with the research expertise of Ashoka's Koita Centre for Digital Health.

As part of the initiative, the two institutions will build a secure data pipeline using de-identified imaging data, in line with ethics approvals and Indian data protection regulations.

This data will be used to benchmark and validate radiology AI models for accuracy and fairness across the diversity of Indian patients and equipment.

The first project will focus on chest X-rays, the most commonly performed imaging test in the country.

The research teams will develop and validate an open-source chest X-ray AI model trained on Indian data, built in India, for India.

As per reports, the model will be made available to hospitals, researchers, and startups to support further testing, research, and development.

The insights from research work are expected to support the development of AI that can assist radiologists in high-volume settings and improve diagnostic quality.

Further, the collaboration will also involve peer-reviewed research and efforts to inform standards for the responsible use of AI in Indian healthcare.

Commenting on the partnership, Dr Arunkumar Govindarajan, radiologist and executive director, Aarthi Scans & Labs, said, “This partnership brings together rigorous academic research and real-world diagnostic expertise, with privacy and ethics built in from the start. Through peer-reviewed research, we hope to contribute to standards that help the country adopt AI in healthcare responsibly. We are starting with chest X-rays and making the model open-source, because AI for Indian patients should be built in India and be available to all of India.”

Months back, the diagnostics company expanded its partnership with a US-based AI healthtech startup, Origin Medical, to advance AI-enabled prenatal ultrasound.

The partnership focuses on improving the quality, consistency, and accessibility of prenatal imaging through AI-powered tools that support radiologists and fetal medicine specialists with faster, standardised, and clinically validated prenatal assessments.

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