Russian Hospitals Are Set to Adopt Digital “Doctor Pirogov”
The system combines neural and semantic networks to help verify diagnoses across 250 diseases.
Russia’s Novosibirsk Region plans to introduce a digital physician assistant known as “Doctor Pirogov” into its regional healthcare system, according to a statement from the university’s press service.
The system was developed by researchers at the AI Research Center of Novosibirsk State University. It includes structured information on 250 major diseases, with the database of pathological conditions updated on a regular basis.
The platform is built on a hybrid approach that combines neural-network methods with a specialized knowledge-graph architecture known as the AND-System, designed to make clinical decisions interpretable. In developing the prototype, the team drew on research conducted jointly by the university and the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Assistant and Diagnostic Tool
According to project lead Vladimir Ivanisenko, the system is expected to reduce diagnostic and therapeutic errors, bring greater standardization to patient management across physicians and shifts, enable automated audits of existing diagnoses and prescriptions, and generate reports, including for department heads and hospital administrators. A pilot rollout could begin within the next two years.
In addition, the Novosibirsk regional healthcare system may later adopt other AI-based solutions, including an AI service for automated MRI diagnostics and a hardware–software complex known as AI-Povodyr (AI Guide Dog), an intelligent assistant designed to support people with visual impairments.
