In South African national and partner-led TB programmes, HCF has supported screening, case management and reporting across seven provinces. A current integrated service footprint extends to more than 50 clinics.
The 750 000+ and 50+ clinic figures describe different programme views and should not be read as one cohort.
From individual clinics to programme oversight
A national TB programme needs the same core steps at every site: register the person, capture the approved assessment, acquire a chest X-ray when indicated, interpret it, record the result and follow the patient to further testing or care. It also needs a reliable view of volume and status across facilities. HCF provides the clinical record and programme workflow. Nexus AI CXR and CloudX add rapid chest-image triage and managed radiologist reporting.
HCF is used by the South African National Department of Health and appointed implementation partners in major TB and HIV programmes, including Global Fund grant cycles GC5 to GC7, with recipients such as TBHIV, Aquity, Isibane, Aurum, IHPS, THINK, MatCH, IRD, AFSA and NACOSA.
What the connected workflow changes
- A shared clinical record keeps a screening encounter tied to the patient’s history and referral status.
- DICOM routing and adapters connect imaging equipment to AI and the specialist reporting worklist.
- Nexus AI CXR, a CE MDR Class IIb certified medical device, indicating any findings that are not consistent with a normal lung field, including findings suggestive of tuberculosis (TB).
- CloudX routes studies requiring radiologist attention and returns structured reports, with twenty-four hour turnaround on referred studies committed in national programmes.
- Approved extracts and dashboards support government reporting without building a separate register at each clinic. Images are held on Microsoft Azure in Johannesburg with a dedicated failover in Cape Town.
The clinical decision remains with qualified professionals. The technology helps teams prioritise images, reduce manual transfers and see which patients still need action. A site can start with HCF alone or add the imaging modules without replacing its existing equipment and systems.
Why this is a scalable model
The same configuration can be deployed by site, with protocols, languages, reporting indicators and local interfaces agreed before go-live. That makes the programme auditable and repeatable while leaving room for each province or implementing partner to meet its own service requirements.
