Why we are shifting focus to AI for health professionals — LASUCOM
By Moses Adeniyi
Lagos State College of Medicine (LASUCOM) has said it is shifting focus to discourse on Articificial Intelligence (AI) with the aim to incorporate same in its curriculum seeing the system is where the health sector is driving towards.
Giving explanation to recent discourses on AI organised by the College, the Provost, LASUCOM, Professor Abiodun Adewuya said the College is taking strategic moves to raise consciousness and build interest around the system among professionals for the benefits of the sector in the Country.
He said embracing the system was important for the College to drive alongside new developments in the health sector.
Adewuya said the significance of the fledging reality informed the recent discourses organised by the College on the current application and future use of AI in the health sector in Nigeria.
According to the Dean, Faculty of Dentistry, LASUCOM, Professor Kehinde Adebiyi, given recent developments which have seen AI serving machine instructions for aid of healthcare delivery, it was important that the curriculum within the academic sphere capture the new realities.
He mentioned the need has informed the ongoing shift to draw attention and awareness towards the significance of incorporating the system into the Country.
LASUCOM had recently organised symposia where experts in the health sector had identified the centrality of AI to addressing the deficiencies in the health sector of the Country.
The experts agreed the system of AI is key to remodelling and vitalising the system of health delivery in the Country, particularly as the challenge of brain drain and the associated problems of dearth of health professionals is placing burdens on the available ones in the Country.
The experts at the 4th Biennial Faculty Day Lecture (Faculty of Dentistry) held at the College, in Ikeja Lagos had probe into the future of dentistry profession in Nigeria, the general problem of brain drain in the Country, the causes and effects, agreeing AI is the way forward.
At the lecture themed “Artificial Intelligence: Current Application and Future Use in Dentistry” dons who gathered at the occasion of the discourse highlighted why the government must support academic efforts toward adoption of AI in the Nigerian health sector.
The Coordinator, New HIV Vaccine and Microbiade Advocacy Society and Executive Director of the Central Office of Research, Obafemi Awolowo University, Professor Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan, while speaking at the symposium expounded on AI and its components in relation to the profession in Nigeria.
Harping that “this is the dawn of a new era, driven by AI advancements,” she expounded the potentials of AI, emphasising the benefits it will bring to current application and future use in Dentistry.
According to her, AI will enhance diagnostic capacity, make personalised treatment possible, make virtual simulation and training possible.
She added that with AI’s predictive analysis using databases of patients, care will be more personalised.
“AI gives instant feedbacks, aims to improve professional’s competence, adapt educational curriculum and do so much more.
“AI is the future, it’s where we are going,” she said, stating it is a game changer for students, teachers and patients alike.
She submitted offer of B.Sc programmes driven by the proposed AI architecture.
Folayan, however, noted that AI is wired in the American and European thinking and is not involving African Philosophies.
The don mentioned that robots can also be created by Africans and African cultures and values instilled in them as well.
She encouraged that Nigeria should not lag behind in its use as it is already in use in other countries.
According to Professor and Head of Department, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Professor Olalekan Gbotolorun, the reasons for the migration of dentists in Nigeria to other countries were issue based in categories.
He segregated them into macro reasons which include insecurity, crisis in the educational sector, underfunding of the health system, global salary structure among others; meso reasons such as renumeration, career prospects, job satisfaction among others; and micro reasons such as family ties, better quality of life, advancing age, among others.
He explained that the most important drivers of migration for health workers were mostly on meso level.
“These have caused losses and the health sector is bearing the consequences,” he said.
He submitted that renumeration must be addressed, there should be minimisation of medical tourism by government officials in particular and the country at large, appropriate pricing of medical education and provision of scholarship for those willing to receive same with certain caveat including making them sign a bond to stay for some years after studies.
According to the Chairman, Schubbs Dental Clinics Limited, Dr Olabode Karunwi, Dr Bode Karunwi Dentistry can survive in Nigeria despite migration of Dentists.
He said this only can be made possible when the emigration push factors are addressed.
He made it known that in early 2022, over 100 medical consultants departed from 17 Nigerian tertiary institutions.
“Over the preceeding two years, more Nigerian dentists are migrating abroad compared to non-Nigerians coming in,” he said.
He mentioned that lack of honesty and transparency in the Nigerian Health System has contributed to its setback.
He encouraged the Government to address the underlying reasons that drive dentists to leave the Country.
He added that organised structure, universal health coverage, implementation of health insurance policies, access to loans, affordable housing, proper statistics and data, among others, will encourage health practitioners to remain in the Country.
