The University of Nairobi’s partnership with Energy Circle Australia has led to the introduction of the use of Artificial Intelligence assisted medical devices to help improve the testing and diagnosis of non-communicable diseases at community level. The initial focus being in Hypertension and diabetic retinopathy.
Prof. Herbert Franz Jelinek of Khalifa University- United Arab Emirates did the introduction and demonstration of the use of these Point of Care Test Devices (POCTDs). His intensive and detailed presentation brought to light the life changing innovations. The devices focused on various non-communicable diseases including hypertension susceptibility, diabetes, nutrition, ECG translation and mental health disorders such as anxiety.
The event was hosted by the Chief Operations Officer of the University of Nairobi Mr. Brian Ouma, the Dean Faculty of Health Sciences Prof. George Osanjo represented by Prof. Oyugi and Chairs of various departments.
The project led by Prof. Dismus Ongore of the Department of Global and Public Health and Prof. Ilako of Department of Ophthalmology titled Feasibility and practicability of the use of medical devices and AI in screening for priority diseases at community level to enhance universal health coverage.
The COO congratulated the lead professors for the great initiative to integrate Artificial Intelligence into the testing stage of diagnosis. He also encouraged the students to join in the project to discover untapped skills to improve the healthcare system.
“It is important to develop a comprehensive care system for patients,” he commented. He went on to mention the effects of a malfunctioned healthcare system including misdiagnosis that may lead to unnecessary surgeries or missing early diagnosis of a disease.
The Dean Represented by Prof. Oyugi emphasized on the theme of the project, research and innovation, being at the heart of not only the faculty of Health sciences but also the university at large.
“Artificial Intelligence is being used across all fields and medicine is no exception,” said Prof. Oyugi.
- Log in to post comments
