On 17 August, Frost & Sullivan presented Dr CADx with the 2017 Sub-Saharan African AI Medical Imaging Visionary Innovation Leadership Award at a colourful ceremony held in Cape Town, South Africa.

The scarcity of radiologists is alarming, especially in developing countries. In Zimbabwe, for instance, there is only one radiologist to every 1 million people as compared to the 1: 9,000 ratio in the United States, and none work in the public hospitals that serve the majority of the population. This devastating scenario is witnessed across Africa.

No matter where in the world they are located, however, radiologists are human, so their work will not prove 100% perfect. In fact, studies have quantified their diagnostic accuracy at 70%, on average. As a result of the 3.6 billion medical images that are taken each year, about 1 billion scans are misdiagnosed, resulting in millions of patients frequently failing to get the right treatment, or their treatment is delayed leading to undue suffering and even death.

Medical technology innovator Dr CADx, through a novel computer-aided diagnostic system, diagnoses medical images more accurately and at a lower cost than standard practice allows, helping reduce human error that has dire consequences for patients and drives up medical costs. By deploying an artificial intelligence system that is available 24/7—even in remote areas—Dr CADx greatly improves the quality of patient management and saves lives, especially in the marginalised areas of the developing world.

At the ceremony, Gift Gana, co-founder and CEO of Dr CADx stated, “We are quite honoured to receive this prestigious recognition, especially as an early stage start-up. When Frost & Sullivan communicated that they were bestowing us this award, Dr CADx was only 6 months old! This award is thus an important validation of our achievements and vision.”

After conducting the market research for this award, Caeri Dunnell, Healthcare Best Practices analyst at Frost & Sullivan noted, “Dr CADx is an up-and-coming technology provider solving some of the most pressing problems in the field of radiology, through the innovative use of artificial intelligence.”

For the Visionary Innovation Leadership Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently evaluated Dr CADx on two key factors: Focus on the Future and Best Practices Implementation. Read Frost & Sullivan’s write on Dr CADx here.