Makerere University Professor Mukadasi Buyinza has hailed Makerere Artificial Intelligence (AI) Health Lab for their advancement in the use of AI in finding health solutions and cautioned them against allowing Artificial Intelligence replace human intelligence.
Professor Buyinza, who was representing the Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangye, at the AI in Health Africa conference, made these remarks on November 28, 2024, at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.
“AI should not at any one time replace human intelligence; humans must remain relevant and critical in the health system,” Buyinza said.
Buyinza noted that however much AI is making work easy with new innovations and quick diagnoses, we should be mindful of its challenges.
“As we use AI, we need to be cognizant of the challenges of AI, like data parity, data privacy concerns, the need for large, high-quality datasets to train models, and the difficulty of ensuring AI systems are accurate and unbiased. There’s also the issue of integrating AI tools into existing healthcare infrastructure, requiring collaboration between tech developers and medical professionals, among others, and we need the able guidance of human experts,” Buyinza added.
Representing Ruth Aceng, the Minister of Health, Paul Mbaka, the assistant commissioner of health services and health information management division, said that AI should be embraced in finding health solutions regardless of its challenges.
“The challenges that come with AI are worth facing, and we shouldn’t run away from them because every time we have disruptive technology, there are these challenges as we move into transitions, and if we don’t adjust in real time, then we shall miss out on the dividends that come with adopting AI,” Mbaka said.
However, on the commitment of the government to support such AI health innovations, Mbaka said that the government has not been fully involved in developing these innovations, but if contacted, they would be much more willing to be part of every step of the innovation and support in any way they can.
The Makerere University AI-Health lab is a revolutionizing disease diagnostics lab in Uganda. Since its launch in September 2023, the lab has come up with diagnoses of critical diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, and cervical cancer.
The 1st Inaugural AI in Africa health conference was organized by Makerere University in partnership with the National Initiative for Health, the Ministry of ICT, the Ministry of Health, Google.org, Lacuna Fund, among others.
