Stroke is the second leading cause of death in India. About 1,85,000 strokes happen in India every year, about one stroke every 40 seconds and one stroke death every 4 minutes is being reported. Amid the rising caseload of strokes in Maharashtra, the state health department has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a multinational pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim India with the goal of enhancing stroke care at government hospitals using artificial intelligence. The health ministry report stated, stroke is a major cause of death and disability in India, which ranks second globally with 7.7 lakh fatalities per year.

According to the MoU, the pharmaceutical company would use AI technologies to train government hospital staff in person. Additionally, it will give the government hospitals the tools they need to enhance the capacity of multidisciplinary stroke teams so they can get access to resources like training materials, equipment, and consulting help to improve stroke care.

There will soon be a trial programme on stroke detection and management in Thane, Aurangabad, Pune, Nanded, and Amravati. This partnership underscores the government’s commitment to enhancing healthcare services in the field of stroke treatment, according to Dr Nagnath Mudam, joint director of NCD in Mumbai. Recently, stroke has become a major public health problem, necessitating sustained public-private cooperation to assist residents live better lives.

The government hospitals of choice would have a minimum of one CT scan facility operating 24 hours a day with a minimum of one technician for Face-Arms-Speech-Time diagnosis.A stroke happens when a blood vessel in the brain breaks or when the blood supply to a portion of the brain is cut off.