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Artificial Intelligence in healthcare sector in India

2023 MAR 29

Mains   > Social justice   >   Health   >   Innovation and New technologies

IN NEWS:

  • The Department of Health Research and ICMR's Artificial Intelligence Cell have released the initial ethical guidelines for applying artificial intelligence in biomedical research and healthcare in India.
  • The guidelines aim to establish an ethical framework for the development of AI-based tools that can benefit all stakeholders.

AI IN HEALTHCARE:

  • AI refers to the ability of machines to perform cognitive tasks like thinking, perceiving, learning, problem solving and decision making.
  • Artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies are increasingly prevalent in business and society, and are beginning to be applied to healthcare.
  • The key areas where AI is being applied are early disease diagnosis, drug design process, drug trials, diabetic retinopathy, cancer treatments, cardiovascular disease, and eye care.

NEED OF AI IN HEALTHCARE:

  • Improve preventive healthcare:
    • AI systems are being utilised in the early detection of different diseases. Eg:  AI-based computer programs have been used to help doctors interpret mammograms and detect breast cancers at early stages.
  • Promote personalised healthcare:
    • AI based tools can generate personalised treatments to patient based on their symptoms and medical history. This can improve clinical decision-making and reduce the usage of unnecessary medicines.
  • Accelerate drug development:
    • AI has the potential to accelerate the hit-to-lead stage of early drug discovery and provide accurate results of the drug target.
    • Eg: AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence program developed by a subsidiary of Alphabet, can predict the 3D models of protein structures and thereby accelerate research.
  • Detect potential epidemics:
    • Big data analytics can be used for public health surveillance and detect disease patterns. This could be useful in the early identification of potential epidemics and pandemics.
  • Overcome resource shortage:
    • India has just 64 doctors per 100,000 people compared to the global standard of 150 doctors per 100,000 people. Coupled with lack infrastructure, this translates to a lack of high-quality diagnostic services, especially in rural India. With AI, these deficiencies can be reduced.
  • Improve accessibility to healthcare:
    • Engaging in digital health systems can allow patients to connect with their healthcare providers more easily. 
    • Also, these systems can reduce the cost of overall treatments by supporting the patient’s ability to manage self-care through the apps.

CHALLENGES:

  • Quality of data:
    • Data collection in India is rudimentary, has no established standards and relies on obsolete methodologies. This increases the risk of inaccurate decisions like inappropriate drug prescriptions or disease detection.
  • Bias and discrimination:
    • The existing data is biased in favor of the socio-economically advantaged populations. AI models trained on such data will generate biased outputs.
  • Privacy and security:
    • Most people are unaware of how their data is collected, how they are processed or how they are used to impact their day-to-day life. This undermines people’s right to privacy.
  • Lack of clarity on liability:
    • AIs are software that writes its own updates and renews itself. So, it does what it learns to do. Hence, there are chances of unintended consequences. But the question of who should be held responsible in such events remain unanswered.
  • Transparency paradox:
    • Transparency of AI systems can help mitigate certain problems such as fairness, discrimination and trust. At the same time, algorithmic transparency can make AI more vulnerable to attacks.
  • Administrative hurdles:
    • Health is a subject under the state list and there is no single authority responsible for public health. This poses issues in ensuring coordination and enforcing compliance on the health standards across the country.

WAY FORWARD:

  • Policy support:
    • For India to maximally benefit from the AI revolution, it must adopt a deliberate policy to drive AI innovation, adaptation, and proliferation in health sector. The policy, while encouraging AI growth, should also embrace smart regulations to ensure responsible AI.
  • AI should be supplementary:
    • AI should support healthcare decision-making and not be used to automate decision-making.
  • Capacity building:
    • Government should introduce AI Courses and AI-based curriculum in schools and colleges, especially medical and health science colleges.
    • Government must also encourage startups, public and private organizations like NITI Aayog and Tata Institute of Healthcare to facilitate research.
  • Data Protection Law:
    • Legal systems ensuring privacy of individuals, informed consensus of data and transparent data handling is essential to alleviate safety concerns over AI.
  • Increase funding:
    • AI based digital health ecosystem requires huge initial capital investments. So, the government should increase public expenditure on health to at least 3% of GDP.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. Elucidate the potential application on Artificial Intelligence in India’s healthcare sector?

Q. It is imperative to have an ethical framework that addresses issues specific to AI for biomedical research and healthcare. Discuss.