AI in health sector: Prospects and challenges in Bangladesh

Lt Col Nazmul Huda Khan, MBBS, MPhil, MPH :

Artificial intelligence (AI) has brought about a revolutionary transformation in the healthcare sector that has resulted smarter, faster and more efficient healthcare to millions across the globe.

It is a sub-field of computer science that includes the creation of intelligent software that works and reacts like human beings.

The major tasks of which are visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making and translation.

It is transforming the nature of almost everything which is connected to human life e.g., employment, economy, communication, warfare, privacy, security, ethics, healthcare etc.

Healthcare is a lucrative field for AI because of data aspect.

Hospitals globally generate about 50 petabytes of data per year.

This volume of data is like the entire written works of mankind, from the beginning of recorded history.

AI is having a wide range of applications across various industries and domains like natural language processing (NLP), image and video analysis, robotics and automation, recommendation systems, financial services, healthcare, virtual assistants and chatbots, Gaming, Smart Homes and Iot, Cybersecurity etc.

AI applications e.g., ChatGPT, Google Maps, Smart Assistants, Snapchat Filters, Self-Driving Cars, Wearables, MuZero etc. are becoming integral part of our daily life worldwide.

In Bangladesh, AI- enabled healthcare solutions have already been used into the following areas e.g., Jeeon providing telemedicine services; Doctor Ola helping people schedule appointments with physicians; Rx71 and CMED having role in preventative healthcare through educating on various parameters of health with the help of a mobile platform; Criticalink ensuring delivery of emergency services with a pool of dedicated first responders and donors; Bhalothakun and Pharma71 allowing users to order required pharmaceutical products online and deliver to their doorstep; Maya Apa providing on demand services such as consultation, advice from experts on socio, psychological, health and legal issues; Aponjon by DNET providing consultation to expecting mothers.

AI has been well applied in various sectors of health care services all over the world.

It has the potential to revolutionize diagnosis and treatment analysis by offering clinicians data-driven perceptions.

It plays role in the drug discovery process through analyzing the chemical compounds and identifying those with potential therapeutic benefits.

AI can significantly improve medical imaging analysis by quickly and accurately detecting findings in MRI scans, X-rays and CT scans.

A simple example, according to research findings, a large percentage of mammograms provide misleading findings.

AI is allowing mammograms to be reviewed and translated 30 times quicker with 99 per cnet accuracy.

AI renaissance is imparting something truly spectacular through different apps and software for healthcare.

Watson, a question-answering computer software, can diagnose human heart diseases; Chatbot, a text-to-speech software can give health advice; while SkinVision software can identify skin cancer.

Medical software using AI procedures can detect eye diseases as expertly as human ophthalmologist, while AI-enabled software for autism treatment is getting popular.

In our country, the doctor-patient and nurse-patient ratio are far behind than that of World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation.

Inclusion of AI will render quick and quality services.

Doctors and nurses can work together to serve the maximum number of patients through AI-driven technologies.

Hospitals, on the other hand, can use AI to reduce paperwork and time-consuming admission and discharge procedures.

The government of Bangladesh has already outlined the AI plan and roadmap in the National Strategy for AI published on March 2020.

The roadmap chalk outs six strategies: Research and development, skilling the AI workforce, industrialization of AI, digital infrastructure development, funding AI startups and ensuring data privacy.

AI solutions largely depend on data and statistics; to keep record-keeping system updated, the government has created a national data warehouse deploying District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2).

The Management Information System (MIS) of the Directorate General of Health Service (MIS-DGHS) is primarily responsible for catalyzing the health information system through DHIS2.

Besides, shared health record (SHR) system, electronic medical records (EMR), online health bulletin, dashboard, human resource information system (HRIS), health facility registry, telemedicine service, video conferencing, health call center, social media portal, civil registration and vital statistic (CRVS) have all been implemented to improve healthcare and collect essential data and statistics.

Government agencies like the National Institution of Population Research and Training (NIPORT), the Institution of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) are providing health routine data as well as surveillance and research data. In the private sector, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr’b), Diabetic Association of Bangladesh (BADAS), Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM), together with large private hospitals such as United Hospital, Evercare Hospital and Square Hospital have already automated their internal systems.

The elements existing right now in Bangladesh so far portrayed will function as a strong platform for setting up AI technologies in health sector.

However, inclusion of AI in the healthcare stream is sometime debatable because of versatile reasons.

AI will incur high initial investment; there may be potential loss of human touch in patient care; there may be possibilities of breach privacy and security and lack of employment.

Moreover, the issues of accountability in case of wrong diagnosis or services may pose confusion in different occasions.

Despite many uncertainties, the prospect of AI in healthcare seems promising.

With adequate investments, proper policies and continuous research; we can surely anticipate some medical paragon which will strengthen our digital healthcare system.

(The writer is a public health specialist, now deputed to Kuwait).