Gov’t Open to Using Ai Solutions in Health Sector – Minister Tufton

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says the Government is open to leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to address challenges in the health sector.

He emphasises, however, that companies offering these systems must provide a change management plan.

Dr. Tufton made the declaration while delivering remarks during the launch of local AI company, Vox Technology Limited, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Friday (April 25).

The Minister said one of the most significant challenges with AI and similar technologies is the willingness of existing human capital to embrace them.

He explained that while AI could be useful in addressing issues such as a shortage of health personnel, if workers do not willingly embrace the technology, then it may not be worth the investment.

“The biggest challenge you’re going to face is how to shift the mindset from embracing the traditional approach to doing things to embracing a new approach, particularly if that new approach appears to take away control from those who are accustomed to having absolute and total control, and who believe that they earned it by virtue of their studies,” Dr. Tufton said.

Consequently, he urged companies intending to provide the technology to ensure it is accompanied by an effective change-management plan, “because it becomes a waste of money [if] everything gets placed in the organisation [and] nobody uses it”.

“So, your change management function will have to be as strong as what your claims are with the technology that you’re implementing,” the Minister added.

Dr. Tufton assured that the Ministry is open to AI solutions, particularly to address a shortage of human capital in healthcare.

“The reason I went to India and the Philippines a few weeks ago, was to explore collaboration around joint training of healthcare workers and taking advantage of size on the other side of the world in terms of clinical rotation space, and in terms of faculty exchange – the two bottlenecks for expanding training in Jamaica. It was interesting to see how that part of the world is coping with expansion of human resource training, turning out multiple times what we do, even on a per-capita basis,” he stated.

Dr. Tufton expressed the hope that, “where we can join forces to facilitate greater training of our human resource, and complementing that with AI technology, we can do so”.

The Minister highlighted the use of intelligent simulators that mimic the human body in healthcare training outside Jamaica.

“We want to establish that here. That could allow even cross-border interaction and, therefore, facilitate a wider pool for training so that we can address some of the challenges that we face with shortages,” he added.

Dr. Tufton further emphasised that as the Government builds new hospitals, which will require additional personnel, it is imperative to address the human resource challenge.