AI app to revolutionise healthcare
Technology also has the power to improve efficiencies of the overall health sector, improve healthcare management and bring down the cost of care. We are working with Babylon on an Arabic version of the AI powered app.” Dr Mohammed Al Redha, director, TEOOT, DHA
We are also working on virtual facial recognition system to judge the emotional behaviour of a patient to see if they are lying or not since it will impact the overall result.” Olly Finding, international director, Babylon
dubai — Virtual doctors, diagnosis will soon determine the future of healthcare in Dubai.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered app that predicts future of healthcare and access doctors within a snap will be presented in nine weeks at the fourth Future Accelerators Cycle, held under the Dubai Future Foundation.
One such futuristic healthcare predictor is a smartphone app called Babylon that has successfully been used in the UK’s National Healthcare System (NHS).
According to statistics, five million clinical requests or ‘consultations’ were typed into Google in a day.
Dr Mohammed Al Redha, director of The Executive Office for Organisational Transformation (TEOOT) at the DHA, said: “We aim to revolutionise the way healthcare is delivered while focusing on patient-centric care.
“We are looking for ways to improve the lives of patients and on ensuring patients lead a high quality of life to the best extent possible. Technology also has the power to improve efficiencies of the overall health sector, improve healthcare management and bring down the cost of care.
“During this cycle we will work with these companies to see how we can incorporate their technology in Dubai.
“We are working with Babylon on an Arabic version of the AI powered app so that we can empower patients, cut down waiting times across hospitals and health centres and provide patients round-theclock care.
“Doctors waiting time is reduced considerably, by as much as 50 per cent and patients also have the complete info about their condition,” said Khulood Al Ali, specialist at TEOOT, DHA.
Burden is also considerably reduced on emergency departments, she added.
“The app has been successful in the UK and compared to 65 to 68 per cent chances of accuracy by human doctors, the app has shown results that are 92 per cent accurate,”
said Olly Finding, the international director at Babylon, who gave a detailed presentation to Khaleej Times.
In the US alone, a million patients are misdiagnosed. The app and its working has also been presented to the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). “If approved, the app will be modified for the needs of the local market,” said Olly, adding that an Arabic version was already being tested. The diagnosis and assessment is completed within 10 to 12 minutes through a number of questions of the patient’s physical appearance and the current health condition. “The AI uploads health profiles and a user can answer questions of someone else’s behalf too.” The medical chatbot provides feedback on the patient’s symptoms and recommends a paid-for video call with a human doctor when the occasion calls.
Results are predicted from the information that is fed into the app following which a video appointment with a doctor is also taken.
The company is in talks to include an insurance provider as well. In the UK set up, Babylon offers options for 10 physical consultations and 100 virtual ones.
“We are also working on virtual facial recognition system to judge the emotional behaviour of a patient to see if they are lying or not since it will impact the overall result,” he said.
The AI does follow ups and reminds the patients of their appoint- ments, medicine dosage. If the app is approved for Dubai, the focus will be on diseases such as Diabetes 2 and other localised diseases. At a later stage if doctors are to be added for virtual consultation then they will include both genders.
For accurate results, patients are asked to have medical tests done from labs and upload the results. “Real data is added from patients and the AI is constantly reviewing info,” he said.