By Chioma Obinna

Health professionals have stressed the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in addressing Nigeria’s pressing health challenges, emphasising the need for the country to embrace the technology holistically to improve diagnosis, reduce medical errors, and enhance overall healthcare delivery.

Speaking during the conference of Guild of Medical Laboratory Directors, (GMLD) in Lagos, the Director of Research, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, Prof. Bamidele Iwalokun, stressed the importance of AI in addressing healthcare shortages and improving diagnostic accuracy.

“AI can help us detect diseases early, even before patients show symptoms. This is crucial for conditions like cancer, where early detection significantly improves survival rates.

“It is very difficult to find a diagnosis without an AI integrated into it to be 100% sensitive, 100% specific, to be accurate, and to have a very high precision.

“And, the reason being that most diseases mimic each other, many of them, in terms of symptoms, in terms of other metabolites that are released, which are called biomarkers, in response to them by humans.

“And, it’s also very difficult for some of these diagnostics to determine the various stages of diseases like cancer. I must tell you that when cancer is detected early, at the earlier stage, more than 60 percent of short cancer patients will live beyond five years.

“But, when it is detected late, less than 10 percent will live beyond five years, especially for some cancers like breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer. These are cancers that need to be detected early in order to improve the survival rates of patients. So, what AI does is to detect these diseases before the patients start showing symptoms.

“Nigeria must not be left behind, we must adopt it holistically, and try to address some of the digital challenges we may encounter using it.”

The conference also showcased how AI can revolutionise laboratory diagnostics.

In his submission, the National President of GMLD, Nigeria, Dr Elochuckwu Adibo shared his experience using AI in his lab for malaria diagnosis.

“AI enables us to look at much more data and achieve greater precision in a shorter time,” he said.

Adibo who raised concerns about the cost of AI-powered medical technologies, argued that the long-term benefits outweigh the initial investment.

He said by improving efficiency and accuracy, AI can ultimately save money and improve patient outcomes.

He explained that the annual conference designed for members to share knowledge, disseminate important issues that concern policies, processes, government interventions, and topical issues that concern their members and the nation as a whole.

He maintained that AI invariably, will reduce errors or misdiagnosis in laboratory practice.
Also speaking, the Director General, NIMR, Prof. John Obafunwa, represented by Dr T. Y. Raheem emphasised the importance of ethical considerations in AI implementation.

“We must ensure that AI is used responsibly and equitably to benefit all Nigerians,” he said.
On his part, Senator Anthony Yaro representing Gombe South senatorial zone, Deputy Chairman and Member Senate committee on health said medical laboratory scientists are the eyes of medicines highlighted key areas where AI can make a significant impact.

Noting that there was need to run with the times, he said, Nigeria needs to join the rest of the world,emphasizing the potential of AI to streamline processes, reduce errors, and improve the quality of healthcare services.
He said by automating tasks such as data entry, analysis, and result dissemination, AI can free up healthcare professionals to focus on patient care.

The experts called on Nigerians to embrace AI as a crucial tool for modernising its healthcare system. He commended GMLD on their efforts to update their members on AI.