Great points about AI in healthcare. The lowest hanging fruit in my opinion is pathological and radiological reporting. These fields essentially involve pattern recognition, which machines can do faster and better than humans if trained adequately.
Diagnosis and medical treatment is the next domain where ML can add a lot of value. It can remove a lot of biases, including decision-making based on economic incentive. Also, the memory and recall, especially for obscure conditions, are incomparable. Both over-treatment and incorrect treatment incidences can be reduced significantly.
Surgical domain, in my opinion, could take longer to disrupt, but it should happen eventually. Robotic surgery currently just involves robotic arms controlled by trained surgeon. It carries the advantage of better visualisation and more degrees of movement with no tremors. But as the technology evolves, if we can incorporate MR imaging into the visual field, and train the machines in anatomy and pathology, true robot-assisted surgery should not only be possible, but be much more accurate with better outcomes and lower complications than the current standard.
In the Indian context, the problems we face with regard to shortage of doctors can also be addressed with AI. The problem isn’t just shortage, but a totally skewed distribution. While rural areas are grossly underserved, big cities are over-served, leading to cut-throat competition and rampant malpractice. This is because people don’t want to live in areas with poor infrastructure, lower education standards for their kids, and less opportunities in general. Not only can AI make remote care possible, it could also tremendously improve the productivity of existing professionals, making healthcare more inclusive.
Can machines ever completely replace doctors though? If there is ever a breakthrough in AGI, then why not? But I suppose we are far away from that.
All in all, there are a number of exciting possibilities for AI in healthcare. Needs to be seen how many of these become a reality, and how soon.
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