Harrison Muiru (L) and other participants
Uganda has made notable progress in healthcare delivery.
Still, significant challenges such as inadequate specialists, ill-equipped medical facilities, and high doctor-to-patient ratios persist in urban and rural settings, writes YUDAYA NANGONZI.
To improve healthcare delivery, Smart Applications International (U) Limited, a health technology firm, is exploring the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital automation into the healthcare system. Speaking at the 4th edition of the Smart Summit at Kampala Serena Hotel last week, Harrison Muiru, the group managing director, said the increased adoption of AI in health globally will help bridge the gap among healthcare practitioners.
“In Uganda, there is a significant shortage of doctors yet inadequate patient care remains on the rise. If someone can access a mobile phone, they can easily use AI to access health care even in their remote locations as the content will be localized to meet their demands,” Muiru said.
He added that healthcare providers ought to embrace AI tools to enhance the efficiency of medical services, optimize resource allocation, and ultimately improve patient care.
Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified Uganda among the 55 countries that were vulnerable to the availability of health workers required to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal target for universal health coverage by 2030.
The WHO statement noted that the affected countries comprised the world’s fragile health systems while most of their health workers are being lost to international migration. Muiru insisted that the health sector could be strengthened with digital solutions.
“If every village has one person with a smartphone, we can use this person as the change agent to assist other people access healthcare virtually. As doctors and patients embrace AI, they need to know that aspects of data privacy must be considered among other governance issues online,” he said.
The summit, which attracted representatives from 12 countries was held under the theme: Advancing Healthcare Accessibility through Digital Automation and AI. Participants discussed how they can leverage technology to make healthcare more inclusive and impactful in Africa.
The Smart Uganda country manager, Judy Mogoya, said that whereas digital automation and artificial intelligence are critical in improving healthcare systems, there’s a need to train healthcare providers on effective use of technology.
“When we launched our operations in Uganda 12 years ago, we even had to train health workers how to hold a mouse in a hospital setting because they were used to pens and papers to make diagnoses,” Mugoya said. She explained that AI will not only be used by health workers but also to curb fraud associated with health insurance schemes.
“When a hospital claims payment, AI will scan through the doctor’s reports and adjudicate whether the claim is fraudulent or not. For instance, a doctor cannot recommend an ultrasound scan for a pregnancy of a male client and then ask an insurance company to pay. AI will be able to flag such cases because we used to get claims where health providers are paid for services that were not offered to patients,” Mugoya added.
CURRICULUM REVIEW IS KEY
While digital solutions potentially enhance the quality of services, implementing such technology as AI will require periodic reviews of curricula in training institutions, according to Saul Sseremba, the principal and CEO of the Insurance Training College.
He urged the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) to ensure that curricula remain aligned with rapid technological advancements.
“We cannot afford to have curricula that run for years without being reviewed. If we are to have a successful digital agenda, it must start with training institutions to release the right people to the field because there’s a mismatch between what is being taught in the institutions and field demands,” Sseremba said.
“A curriculum must be reviewed every two years but times have changed and curriculum for some courses should be reviewed every six months because we risk teaching people obsolete information.”
Meanwhile, the CEO of Rocket Health, Dr Davis Musinguzi, urged the government to offer subsidies to telecoms to ease access to data – a critical component for AI. Statistics from the ICT ministry show that the internet penetration rate in Uganda as of 2022 stood at 35% with projections to reach 50% by 2025.
nangonzi@observer.ug
Source: The Observer
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