(Yicai Global) Aug. 3 -- All medical examination and healthcare centers of iKang Healthcare Group, a major medical examination service supplier in China, will introduce IBM's Watson artificial intelligence (AI) services. The centers will also institute AI-based tumor consultation centers in the future, the company announced.

To this end, iKang has reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Baheal Intelligent Technology Co., subordinate to Baheal Pharmaceutical Group, to introduce cognitive computing solutions offered by IBM Watson for Oncology.

Under the plan, the Watson intelligent oncology consultation system will be installed in the 108 physical examination centers of iKang successively. After the results of a physical examination come out, iKang also offers patients the therapeutic regimens given by leading experts through the Watson oncology consultation center, it said.

Insiders point out that the bilateral cooperation can yield win-win results for both parties. Baheal can obtain clients and opportunities for accelerative commercialization with the help of iKang, while iKang can improve its post-examination business via AI and make up for any possible skills or talent gap.

The physical examination industry can find models suitable for extended services rather than resting on simple examinations and data presentation, Zhang Ligang, the founder of iKang, told Yicai Global. The combination of AI and healthcare Big Data will bring unprecedented revolution for the entire medical industry, Zhang believes.

Watson refers to the AI system developed by IBM. Since 2011, this system has been tested and improved in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), the largest cancer center in the US, where it learnt medical achievements extensively and now has turned into an AI medical expert, the company info suggests.

The conformity of the treatment scheme offered by Watson to that offered by the top expert team of MSKCC has so far reached over 90 percent, claimed Fu Gang, chairman of Baheal, in an interview with Yicai Global. In March this year, Baheal Intelligent Technology of Baheal Pharmaceutical obtained the three-year exclusive distributorship of Watson in China's domestic market.

Cai Jiangnan, the director of CEIBS Center for Healthcare Management and Policy, said AI can process massive data in a more efficient manner and can quickly identify some features in the data. In particular, AI offers special advantages in image identification. It is also able to establish assistant clinic decision-making systems for doctors via substantial medical knowledge library and database, and can facilitate doctors' diagnosis.