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Dr George Agyekum Donkor, the President of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), has called on African nations invest in the development of their health personnel to address the growing shortage of medical professionals.
Sourcing a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Donkor said the global health body has estimated a global shortage of about 11 million health workers by 2030, with Africa expected to experience some of the greatest pressures.
“It’s therefore time to rethink healthcare architecture by embracing AI-powered diagnostics, research, medical technology manufacturing and enterprises that serve the masses across the continent,” Dr Donkor said.
He noted, however, that Artificial Intelligence was not intended to replace healthcare professionals but rather to serve as a critical tool for extending healthcare reach and enabling better care with limited resources.
Delivering the keynote address at the three-day International Conference on AI in Healthcare and Pharma (ICAIH), in Dr said the global AI-enabled healthcare market is projected to grow from $15 billion in 2023 to nearly $188 billion by 2030.
The conference, hosted by the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ho, is on the theme: “Transforming Healthcare from Expenders to ‘Healthpreneurs’: Leveraging AI as the Bedrock for Regional Cooperation.”
Dr Donkor said the West African Development Outlook (WADO) projected economic growth of 4.8 per cent for the ECOWAS sub-region in 2025, yet productivity remained modest, with nearly six million people expected to be unemployed by the end of 2026.
Dr Donkor said Artificial Intelligence was not intended to replace healthcare professionals but rather to serve as a critical tool for extending healthcare reach and enabling better care with limited resources.
“AI is already reshaping healthcare across the entire value chain, from prevention and diagnosis to treatment, logistics, pharmaceutical research, hospital administration and public health surveillance,” he said.
Prof Lydia Aziato, Vice-Chancellor of UHAS, called for stronger collaboration among universities, industry and development partners to integrate Artificial Intelligence into health education, research and healthcare delivery.
She said UHAS was committed to producing job-ready graduates equipped with AI and digital skills to meet the changing demands of the global health sector, adding that partnerships were essential to achieving that vision.
Prof Alexander Ansah Manu, of the Institute of Health Research (IHR), UHAS, and lead organiser of the conference, described AI as an inevitable technological advancement that must be embraced and responsibly integrated into Ghana’s healthcare system to improve service delivery and health outcomes.
He said although AI might initially appear unfamiliar, like an “alien” with human-like characteristics, it should be viewed as a tool that complemented rather than replaced human intelligence.
According to him, while AI was driven by data, algorithms and statistics, healthcare must always preserve the human elements of compassion, ethics and professional judgement.
The main theme of the ICAIH is “Accelerating Adoption of Healthcare AI in Ghana: From Vision and Policy to Practice and Impact.”
Key partners for the conference include the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNESCO, UNICEF, the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA), the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), the University of Ghana (UG), the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), the Ministry of Health (MoH), Agricultural Development Bank (adb), Microsoft, Melcom, the African Union (AU), EBID and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), among others.
Source: GNA