Lung cancer has quietly become one of India’s deadliest health threats, often striking without warning and claiming lives before patients even realise they are ill. Now, a pioneering initiative in Goa is offering a powerful counterattack: artificial intelligence (AI) embedded into routine chest X-rays to catch the disease at its earliest, most treatable stage.
The programme, led by the Goa government in collaboration with health-tech firm Qure.ai and Swiss-British drugmaker AstraZeneca, is being showcased as one of India’s most promising AI healthcare success stories.
The model is now under discussion for expansion across multiple states and at the national level.
The initiative was highlighted at the ongoing India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, positioning Goa as one of the front-runners in leveraging AI for public health.
LUNG CANCER’S SILENT SURGE
Lung cancer is now the fourth most common cancer in India and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths, according to Globocan 2022 data. In that year alone, more than 81,000 new cases and over 75,000 deaths were recorded nationwide.
Once considered a smoker’s disease, lung cancer is increasingly being diagnosed in non-smokers and women, driven in large part by worsening air pollution across Indian cities. The real danger lies in its stealth.
Early-stage lung cancer rarely produces symptoms, and most patients are diagnosed in Stage III or IV, when treatment options are limited and survival rates drop sharply. Fewer than 15 percent of patients survive beyond five years after diagnosis.
This is where Goa’s AI-led approach is changing the equation.
TURNING ROUTINE X-RAYS INTO LIFESAVING SCREENS
Traditionally, lung cancer screening relies on low-dose CT scans for high-risk individuals, particularly those with a heavy smoking history, pointed out Dr V Venkata Sampath, medical oncologist with Apollo Cancer Centre, Hyderabad, not attached with the project.
However, CT-based screening programmes are expensive and logistically demanding, limiting their reach in resource-constrained settings.
Goa’s model flips the script.
Instead of waiting for symptoms or restricting screening to high-risk smokers, the programme analyses routine chest X-rays already being conducted for common reasons such as fever, suspected infections or pre-operative checks.
An AI server installed in participating public hospitals automatically analyses each X-ray for suspicious pulmonary nodules — small growths in the lung that could signal early cancer.
Cases flagged as high-risk are then referred for further evaluation and confirmatory testing.
Over the past several months, more than one lakh individuals across 18 public hospitals in Goa have been screened using this AI-enabled system. The results are striking: 1,600 pulmonary nodules were flagged as high-risk, and 20 early-stage lung cancer cases have already been confirmed.
These are patients who might otherwise have gone undiagnosed until the disease had advanced significantly.
Ankit Modi, founding member and Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at Qure.ai, said the tool has also been piloted in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.
Discussions are now underway with these state governments, the Union Health Ministry and the National Health Authority (NHA) to explore broader implementation, he told India Today.
WHY AI COULD BE A GAME CHANGER
Experts say the biggest advantage of this approach is scalability. By integrating AI into existing diagnostic infrastructure, states can transform everyday X-rays into opportunistic cancer screening tools without creating parallel systems.
The algorithm used in Goa reportedly demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity, meaning it can accurately detect true positives while minimising false alarms. In regions where access to specialist radiologists is uneven, such tools can act as a decision-support layer, ensuring suspicious cases are not overlooked.
Global evidence is building around AI’s potential in cancer detection. A recent landmark study published in The Lancet found that AI-enabled mammography significantly reduced breast cancer mortality and relapses, reinforcing confidence in AI-assisted screening models.
Modi also pointed to experience from Vietnam, where a similar national initiative led to thousands of premature deaths being averted through earlier diagnosis and timely intervention.
“In countries like India, where access to specialist radiologists may be uneven across regions, AI can help bridge the gap by supporting early screening programs, especially for high-risk populations such as chronic smokers,” underlined Dr Srinivasa B J, medical oncologist with HCG Cancer Hospital in Bengaluru.
