Vijayawada: In a significant step towards leveraging technology in public healthcare, the medical and health department is all set to introduce Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based services to identify and monitor key health parameters in newborns. The new initiative will enable the automatic measurement of a newborn’s weight, height, head circumference, chest circumference and arm circumference through a mobile phone video without physically touching the infant. The AI-powered system will be integrated with the app currently used by ASHA workers.The medical and health department has partnered with Wadhwani AI, which has developed the Shishu Maapan application for contactless newborn measurements, according to health minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav.As part of a pilot project, health data and videos of nearly 1,000 newborns from the Mangalagiri constituency will be collected to train the AI model. The pilot project will cover the urban health centres at Indira Nagar, Koppurao Colony, Kaza and Errabalem, along with the Pedavadlapudi Primary Health Centre. Training programmes for ASHA workers and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) have already begun in phases.“Based on the pilot results, the AI-based newborn monitoring system would be expanded across the state. The initiative is expected to reduce the workload of frontline healthcare workers while ensuring more accurate and efficient monitoring of infant growth and development,” health minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav said.Under the Home-Based Newborn Care programme, ASHA workers are required to visit newborns six times within 42 days of birth to record health parameters. Currently, they carry weighing machines, infantometers and measuring tapes, making the process both time-consuming and physically demanding.The new Shishu Maapan app is designed to simplify the process. By placing a smartphone equipped with the application near the baby, healthcare workers can automatically capture and record the required measurements within seconds.The department estimates that the AI integration process, including the creation of a video database of 1,000 newborns, will take around three months.Commissioner (Medical & Health and Family Welfare) G Veerapandian said the technology would help detect growth abnormalities at an early stage and automatically alert medical officers for timely intervention. He also expressed confidence in the accuracy of the AI-based measurements, noting that the system had shown reliable results in identifying newborn health parameters.