Radiologist. Founder. Builder of access.

Healthcare access is an infrastructure problem.

I'm Anith Chacko, a diagnostic radiologist and the founder of Radhiant Diagnostic Imaging (RDISA). Screening saves lives, but only if it reaches people where they live and work. So we put it on wheels: from one truck in 2023 to a national mobile network of seven 3D units that has screened more than 25 000 to date across 300 communities in South Africa, and referred more than 430 suspicious findings for biopsy.

Read the writingAbout me

Dr Anith Chacko in a navy suit, arms crossed, against a marble wall

The thesis

Access infrastructure

We know how to find cancer early. The hard part of preventive healthcare is the system around the medicine: the trucks, the rosters, the data, the follow-up call that actually happens. I write about healthcare access as a systems problem, about what building RDISA is teaching me in the field, and about the people the whole exercise is for.

The record

  • 2023One mammography truck on the road
  • 300+Communities reached
  • 25 000+Screened to date, as at 23 October 2026
  • 430+Suspicious findings referred for biopsy

Built into a national mobile screening network, delivered with employers including Vodacom and Sanlam. Grounded in an MBBCh, FC Rad Diag (SA), a PhD from the University of Bristol, years as a lead radiologist at Life Healthcare, and the inaugural SAMA Young Researcher of the Year award.

Ways I help

Free guide

Five questions every health leader should ask

Before you sign off on the next piece of innovative technology, put it through five questions. A practical guide drawn from two decades in clinical practice and the field lessons of building a national mobile diagnostic fleet. Leave your email and it arrives in your inbox.

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Latest writing

  • 23 October 2026

    What this year cost, and what I would do again

    Radhiant Diagnostic Imaging is shortlisted for The Easies 2026. The year behind it was harder than a shortlist can show, and the public vote closes on Thursday 29 October 2026.

  • 22 August 2026

    The algorithm is the easy part

    Artificial intelligence is often sold as the answer to the access gap in healthcare. From a radiologist's chair, the model reading the scan is the simplest part of the problem, and the responsibility lives everywhere else.

  • 22 August 2026

    Who signs the report when the AI is wrong

    The conversation about AI in medicine is mostly about detection rates. The harder question, and the one procurement asks last, is who carries the risk when the model is wrong.