An upcoming national competition focused on the application of artificial intelligence in medical imaging review is expected to accelerate the use of AI to improve the accuracy and efficiency of diagnostic services, authorities said on Wednesday. 

The competition, jointly hosted by the National Healthcare Security Administration and the government of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, will take place in Guangxi from August to October, authorities announced during an event in Beijing.

The competition will feature eight categories, including AI-powered imaging diagnosis targeting specific conditions such as lung cancer, kidney cancer, prostate lesions, breast cancer, thyroid cancer, and other common and complex diseases. It will also cover cutting-edge areas such as chest X-ray multi-disease detection and ultrasound video lesion recognition.

The competition is open to medical institutions, universities, research institutes, and enterprises nationwide. The preliminary rounds will be held online from Aug 1 to Sept 30, while the finals will take place in mid-October in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi.

Cao Wenbo, deputy director of the administration's big data center, said that the administration has been making continuous efforts to strengthen big data capabilities in recent years. Notable outcomes include the establishment of a unified national healthcare security information platform and progress in building cloud platforms that aggregate healthcare insurance and medical imaging data. As of March 25, the administration had accumulated 366 million medical imaging index records, he said.

Cao added that the administration launched a pilot program this year aiming to consolidate individual health data scattered across hospitals, pharmacies, physical examination centers, wearable devices, and other channels. 

"Currently, China's healthcare security data covers over 1.33 billion insured individuals, forming the world's largest and most comprehensive single-payer health database," he said.Zhang Yi, head of the healthcare security administration of Guangxi, stated that the region will accelerate the construction of its medical imaging cloud platform.

Guangxi will also establish a total fund of 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) to provide financial support for award-winners of the competition. Additionally, it will collaborate with major hospitals and medical colleges in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to jointly build cross-border clinical validation and demonstration bases to promote the applications of mature medical imaging equipment and related AI products.