World’s first country to establish the “Ministry of Artificial Intelligence”, UAE is all geared up for AI-assisted healthcare transformation. An estimated 62% of the people in UAE already welcomed the implementation of AI and robotics in personalized healthcare services. Healthcare is deemed to be the most influenced field by the use of Artificial Intelligence. This disruptive technology has already touched major milestones in multiple levels of healthcare services:
- Investment in AI accelerates the achievement of innovative healthcare breakthroughs. Ai also results in huge economic outcomes and growth opportunities for the youth and young entrepreneurs
- The power of AI to assess vast amounts of data faster more efficiently and accurately saves valuable time. The use of AI in analytics frees up other resources in radiology, cardiology and pathology diagnosis
- The expedited ability of AI to determine and predict human behavioral patterns more precisely makes it ideal as preventive technology
- AI as assistive technology makes it possible to achieve patient data on-the-go. AI can provide personalized healthcare through wearable devices without the involvement of human attendants
- Human attendants can be replaced by AI monitoring equipment in critical care units
- Precision medication is possible with using AI not only preventing over-dosage errors but also introducing the possibility of custom medication
- AI-assisted robotic surgery brings ground-breaking improvements in surgical procedures. AI ensure increasing service efficiency and diminishing chances of miscalculation and complications
AI INNOVATION AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH
As per CB Insights, healthcare is actually the most popular area for investment within AI. A record rate of companies is entering the field of AI healthcare every year. In the Middle East alone, the investment in Artificial Intelligence represents a magnanimous opportunity of up to $320 billion. A new report says that Artificial intelligence is set to give the UAE economy a $182 billion boost by 2035.
More fiscal allocation into AI education and innovative startups means more employment opportunities and greater scope for the youth. A 2016 report from CB Insights actually shows that by 2020, 86% of healthcare provider organizations, life science companies, and technology vendors to healthcare will spend an average of $54 million dollars on AI Projects.
His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, the UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, shared his point of view at the launch of the UAE’s first-ever AI Summer Camp this year, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to save the UAE billions of dirhams – and could help save lives – when it becomes fully integrated by the government.”
The future of Healthcare looks particularly AI driven however you look at it. Google certainly sees it that way has been turning its focus to healthcare. Google plans to use AI for the purpose of detection, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases including diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease, and heart disease, among others.
AI AS PREVENTIVE TECHNOLOGY – DIAGNOSTICS AND ANALYTICS
As far as diagnostics and analytics are concerned, AI is significantly useful in the fields of radiology, cardiology, and pathology. Having the power to assess mountains worth of data at an incredible speed, there is no human comparison for AI. In fact, the prowess of AI in predicting disease patterns makes it the future of preventive technology. In cases where even the smallest nuance can help identify the direction of a disease, AI definitely transcends the human eye. Such as in medical imaging where it is important to drill down to the pixel level to study disease patterns.
As Jeffrey Golden, MD, Chair of the Department of Pathology at BWH and a professor of pathology at HMS, puts it, “AI can screen through slides and direct us to the right thing to look at so we can assess what’s important and what’s not. That increases the efficiency of the use of the pathologist and increases the value of the time they spend on each case.”
ASSISTIVE AI AND VIRTUAL CLINICIANS
Another area of great interest in Artificial Intelligence is its application in clinical decision support. AI devices can be used to regulate patient symptoms, medication, and medical advice. With smartphones having the ability to track even the heartbeats or footsteps of the user, a large amount of healthcare data is being generated all the time. AI can use this data to extract valuable insights into patient information. These insights can further guide the patients in staying ahead of, for instance, the symptoms of a genetic disease. In the same way, AI can also help the physicians in delivering better healthcare services.
Dr. Mariam Matar, Founder & Chairperson of UAE Genetic Diseases Association, is very hopeful about using AI for reducing the effect and prevalence of genetic disorders, “Inherited genetic mutation does not largely decide our destiny anymore. Advances in genetics have transformed preventive medicine for the better. Technology such as next-generation sequencing has uncovered the genes responsible for more than 50 percent of all rare diseases.”
Immunotherapy is perhaps the most promising avenues for using AI to study the growth and behavior of cancerous tumors. AI can further help develop a system using the body’s own immune system against the malignant tumors. This is vastly possible through the use of machine learning algorithms. These algorithms use insights based on an individual’s unique genetic makeup and data-sets to qualify for a suitable therapy option.
PRECISION MEDICINE AND Ai ASSISTED SURGERY
According to a study, dosing errors make up 37% of all preventable medical errors. Approximately, 100 undetected dispensing errors can occur each day as a result of the significant volume of medications dispensed. Leveraging AI to determine and administer correct dosage of medication can benefit both patients and doctors. This is especially true for events where the correct dose is critical to ensuring success in a surgery such as in organ transplant.
Done the right way, the implementation of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare could literally translate into massively improving healthcare industry practices. Dr. Mazin A. Gadir, Senior Specialist at The Executive Office for Organizational Transformation, currently responsible for Dubai Health Authority’s Artificial Intelligence Program, says that in the UAE all healthcare facilities are working alongside the authorities towards putting together plans and finding partners for AI integration while “the challenge is on how to operationalize AI into healthcare.”
Artificial Intelligence based healthcare system offers major breakthroughs towards dramatically improving clinical productivity. The future, as we see it, will reveal a huge transformation in the healthcare landscape within the next decade.
