Industrial Revolution that started in the 18th century has entered 4 generation with the advent of technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, 5G communication technology etc.
AI in Medicine relies upon feeding health data to train machines. AI in healthcare will be $ 430 Billion by 2021 expanding at 40% rate.
AI-enabled healthcare services has potential to transform the healthcare sector:
- AI enabled robots as receptionist, eg – Humanoid assistant Pepper – 1st robot in the world to be used to great people in a medical setting.
- AI enabled robots for rehabilitation, eg – Ekso Bionic Exoskeleton
- AI enabled robots for surgery, eg – Da Vinci Surgical System
- AI in Precision Medicine (i.e. Medical care for each patients unique condition is called as Precision Medicine),
- AI enabled robots in pharmacy system,
- AI enabled robots in patient care,
- AI enabled robots in tele-medicine,
- AI in healthcare can help tackling uneven doctor-patient ratio,
- AI in AUTOMATED ANALYSIS of medical tests,
- AI in PREDICTIVE healthcare DIAGNOSIS, eg – Early detection of breast cancer upto 5 years early than mammography.
- AI in AUTOMATION OF healthcare DIAGNOSIS with the help of monitoring equipment etc. are all expected to REVOLUTIONIZE medical treatment processes in the country.
Thus, from simple blood test to complex MRI and CT scan everything is incorporated with AI. Technology has grown to such a level that even surgery & nursing care is given by AI enabled robots.
Issues with deployment of AI
- Inadequate Data Infrastructure.
- High Cost of development and operationalisation.
- Widespread use of AI is hindered by Complexity.
- Risks associated with their use are still being understood.
Way Forward
- Updated regulatory regime is the need of time
- FDA proposes iteration of regulation rather one time certification.
- AI for all sets precedent for AI capacity development through CORES & ICTAI.
- Developing data culture to collect accurate health date.
Conclusion
For the concept of AI in healthcare to be successful in India, All stakeholders including centre and state have to do their part. Telangana for example, has declared 2020 as the year of AI, with the intention of making AI-based innovation successful across e-governance, agriculture, healthcare etc.