The President of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), Dr George Agyekum Donkor, has said Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not replace healthcare professionals but rather enable better service delivery with limited resources.

“Already, AI is reshaping healthcare across the entire value chain, from prevention and diagnosis to treatment, logistics, pharmaceutical research, hospital administration and public health surveillance,” he said.

Dr Donkor, who is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of EBID, was opening the maiden International Conference on AI in Healthcare and Pharma at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) at Sokode-Lokoe, near Ho, in the Volta Region last Tuesday.

The two-day conference was on the theme: Accelerating Adoption of Healthcare AI in Ghana – From Vision and Policy to Practice and Impact.

It was attended by about 400 participants, including health experts, medical students, communication students, nurses, senior high school students, and representatives of health-focused non-governmental organisations.

Also in attendance were representatives of the Ho Teaching Hospital, National Vaccine Institute and various health facilities.

Essential component

Dr Donkor said AI was becoming an essential component of modern healthcare systems, adding that Africa was already proving that it could compete in that space.

He cited Zipline’s example in Ghana, referencing how it had built one of the world’s largest autonomous medical drone delivery networks, combining AI, robotics and predictive inventory management to deliver blood, vaccines, medicines and laboratory samples to numerous health facilities.

Dr Donkor said another Ghanaian success story was mPharma, which leveraged AI, predictive analysis and digital supply-chain management to forecast medicine demand, optimise inventory and improve access to affordable medicines across Africa.

He said that testified to the fact the Africa was not simply adopting technologies developed elsewhere, but that African entrepreneurs, researchers, and healthcare professionals were developing globally competitive solutions tailored to African realities.

Presenting a paper on: “Transforming Healthcare from Expenders to ‘Healthrepreneurs’ — Leveraging AI as the Bedrock for Regional Cooperation”, Dr Donkor highlighted the need to establish regional centres of excellence linking universities, teaching hospitals, research institutions and private innovators to advance AI research.

That, he explained, was also necessary to develop talent and equip the next generation of clinicians, biomedical engineers, data scientists, and entrepreneurs who would drive Africa’s health technology and revolution.

Health data governance

“We also need to adopt harmonised standards for health data governance and common regulatory frameworks for AI-enabled medical technologies to reduce fragmentation and enable health technology companies to expand their operations across the sub-region,” Dr Donkor stressed.

Earlier, the Director of the Institute of Health Research of UHAS, Prof. Alexander Ansah Manu, said AI had come to stay and must be adopted and made useful in healthcare.

The Vice-Chancellor of UHAS, Prof. Lydia Aziato, said the university was making impact in the healthcare space and it would be appropriate for it to have an AI unit and hub to train health professionals in AI for timely and better diagnosis.

She maintained that AI must be used ethically to respect the privacy of patients, saying AI must not take away human values in healthcare.