Key Takeaways
- An AI platform in Singapore has dramatically reduced the time for clinical audits by up to 90%.
- Local company Enigma Health, a spin-off from SingHealth Duke-NUS, created the AI technology.
- New agreements with Roche and ST Engineering aim to use this AI for faster clinical trial recruitment and easier healthcare app development.
- The technology helps healthcare professionals focus more on patient care amidst manpower challenges.
A Singaporean health-tech company, Enigma Health, established in 2024, has developed an artificial intelligence platform that’s making a big difference in healthcare. This AI, known as Enigma, is a product of a collaboration between clinicians and AI scientists, stemming from the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre.
Enigma is a special type of AI called a small language model. This means it’s designed to be quick, use less computing power, and importantly, it usually operates offline, which helps keep sensitive patient data secure.
The AI was recently tested at SingHealth institutions, including the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. At SNEC, Enigma was used to review cataract surgeries as part of essential clinical audits, which are checks to ensure
high standards of care.
During this trial, which ran from January to June 2024, Enigma analysed over 7,000 operations and 1.2 million data points. According to The Straits Times, this cut the audit time from a staggering 528 hours to just seven. It also significantly lowered the chance of human mistakes.
Associate Professor Daniel Ting, from SingHealth’s AI Office, highlighted a key benefit: the AI frees up healthcare workers. With current manpower shortages, this allows them to dedicate more time to direct patient care, transforming their roles rather than just adding more staff.
Following this success, Enigma Health signed agreements on May 27 with biotech giant Roche and engineering firm ST Engineering. These partnerships, announced at the ATxSummit technology conference, will expand Enigma’s applications.
With Roche, the AI will help speed up the process of finding suitable patients for clinical trials. Enigma Health’s chief executive, Dario Heymann, explained that by quickly sifting through patient databases, the AI can identify eligible participants. This could cut recruitment costs, a major part of trial expenses, and bring new treatments to patients sooner.
The collaboration with ST Engineering will see Enigma’s AI integrated into a platform called AGIL®Genie Studio. This will make it easier for people without coding skills to build precise AI-powered healthcare apps by simply typing instructions.
Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, Rahayu Mahzam, spoke at the event, emphasizing that transforming healthcare with AI needs teamwork. She noted the importance of collaboration between public and private sectors to leverage AI for better health outcomes in Singapore.