AI X-rays for Tuberculosis Detection

• 15 Dec 2025

Why in News?

The Rajasthan State Health Department launched an initiative deploying 29 advanced portable X-ray machines to strengthen Tuberculosis diagnosis.

Key Points

• Technology: The portable X-ray machines use Artificial Intelligence to rapidly identify individuals with suspected Tuberculosis, including in remote villages.
• Outreach: The initiative aimed to improve early diagnosis, treatment and management of Tuberculosis in underserved rural and remote communities.
• Priority:High-risk locations such as brick kilns, construction sites, mining areas, jails, hostels, slums and other congregate settings were identified for focused Tuberculosis screening.
• Approach: The Health Department emphasised Active Case Finding as a cost-effective strategy to reduce delays in Tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment.
• Infrastructure: The initiative addressed major gaps in public health facilities, including the lack of X-ray equipment and shortage of trained radiologists.
• Screening: A high-sensitivity digital chest X-ray screening tool, digital Chest X-ray, combined with Computer-Aided Detection, was adopted for identifying suspected Tuberculosis cases.
• Diagnostics: Individuals flagged through screening were linked to Xpert molecular testing for rapid confirmatory diagnosis and to reduce pre-treatment loss to follow-up.
• Deployment: Portable X-ray machines were deployed across 29 districts of Rajasthan, with a recent screening drive identifying 2.3 lakh individuals with Tuberculosis symptoms from a vulnerable population of nearly 160 lakh.
• Burden: Rajasthan reported a high Tuberculosis burden, with over 1.7 lakh cases in 2024 and 89,132 cases recorded by June 2025.
• Targeting: The Health Department planned to use Artificial Intelligence–enabled X-ray machines to screen high-risk groups, including people living with HIV/AIDS, diabetes patients, senior citizens, malnourished individuals, and those recovering from Tuberculosis.