Artificial Intelligence on the rise in UAE’s healthcare sector

The UAE is one of the biggest adopters of Artificial intelligence (AI) in the region and has invested a total of $2.15 billion in the sector over the last decade. AI is transforming the healthcare industry — along with several other industries in the country and has augmented efficiency and productivity during the pandemic.

With the rapid pace of change, affordability and access to quality care is becoming challenging. These advances will bridge many gaps and relieve healthcare professionals of much stress caused by endless documentation and user burnout.

Karan Rekhi, CEO of Forte Healthcare, a leading healthcare consultancy agency said “UAE plans to build innovative digital companies and startups to work on cutting-edge projects to create futuristic technologies in AI. The country has opened its doors and is offering Golden Visas to coders from around the globe to become part of its success story.”

Rekhi further added: “We expect that with this new development where the National Programme for Coders is offering exceptional coders from across the world an opportunity to call UAE their home, we will see a fast-paced development of AI applications and solutions, especially related to the healthcare business where tech platforms are growing rapidly. It will also allow us to introduce best-in-class technologies in the healthcare sector more effectively.”

Social distancing and working from home have become the ‘new normal’ and this has led to the demand for AI-based healthcare services, like telehealth and app-based health monitoring systems for chronic patients. Tech giants are taking great interest in the healthcare domain. The market size is set to reach $267 billion by 2027 worldwide.

The UAE is well on its way to create a full-scale medical R&D ecosystem with large global health and pharma giants choosing Dubai as their home base for research. The country is making strides in its journey to become a global capital for medical research and development.

AI helps with patient engagement that leads to an educated consumer base. Moreover, it will provide better data and insights for physicians to make more informed evidence-based decisions to further improve the health outcomes of their patients.

Telehealth

The digital transformation has helped link medical screening with the tourism sector, in which Covid-19 testing has become one of the mandatory travel documents. The online consultation market is blowing up with a huge number of the global population is opting for it. If reports are to be believed, this market has a revenue opportunity of $250 billion. Taking advantage of the telehealth market segment opportunity, all the care providers and insurance companies are already in process. Many of the technology-driven apps like Al Hosn, Arogya Setu, IATA travel pass initiatives, etc. help not only the traveller but the authorities in mapping the vaccines, Covid-19 test, and healthcare.