KARACHI: The Sindh government plans to introduce advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), which will not only improve patient care but also provide access to data for research and help the hospital develop unique protocols for various ailments.
This was announced by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah at the second Postgraduate Studies Conference organised by JPMC at the auditorium on Friday.
Addressing the rally, the Prime Minister said, “This will be the first time outside the US that advanced AI technology will be deployed to create predictive algorithms that are trained on Pakistan's local population and disease patterns.”
“For this purpose, the Sindh government in collaboration with Patient AIDS Foundation has contracted with globally renowned company PAXERA to equip JPMC with PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) and artificial intelligence technologies, which are currently being used at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School in the US.”
Shah also revealed that the state government plans to provide open access to these AI models to other laboratories, especially rural ones, where even junior doctors can emulate the same level of accuracy as JPMC in diagnosing diseases using AI.
Medical facility holds second graduate research conference
“This was not the JPMC we took over from the Union Government. When JPMC, National Institute of Cardiovascular and Vascular Research (NICVD) and National Institute of Child Health (NICH) were devolved in 2011, it had 2,092 beds and a budget of Rs 1,900 crore,” he recalled.
Shah pointed out that the government has increased the number of beds and the budget: “In 2011, JPMC had 1,185 beds, NICH had 443 and NICVD had 464 beds. Now, JPMC has 2,208 beds, NICH 553 and NICVD 1,280 beds. The government has also increased the budget from a total of Rs 1.9 billion to Rs 25.75 billion.”
Shah informed the audience that the government is also introducing cutting edge technologies like Cyberknife and Tomotherapy free of cost.
In his speech, JPMC Executive Director Prof Shahid Rasool expressed gratitude to the government and PAF for supporting the hospital in becoming one of the leading medical facilities in the country.
Chairman Sindh Higher Education Commission Prof Tariq Rafi, Vice Chancellors Prof Nusrat Shah, Prof Amjad Shirazi, Prof Gulshan Memon and CEO Aga Khan University Health Services Pakistan Dr Farhat Abbas also spoke.
Published in Dawn on June 1, 2024
