Healthcare innovation: AI-enhanced and enabled, but not AI-decided

How should the healthcare sector deal with the opportunities and risks that come with the tech revolution? Health Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Ong Ye Kung addressed the issue at the ninth CHI Innovate conference on July 10. The following is an edited text of his speech.

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The way healthcare uses AI is different from many other industries. We are not overwhelmed by it, in the way AI has disrupted the music, entertainment or transport sectors; or digitalisation has revamped the telecommunications, retail or financial services sector.

This is because healthcare is an essential public service that cannot be substituted. It is also highly regulated. This means the determined and heavy hand of clinical governance can possibly keep out disruptive technological changes. In Singapore, we are, of course, not going to do that.

On the other hand, healthcare systems around the world are disrupted by a separate force—not of technology, but of nature. And that is demography, and the progressive ageing of our population.

Hence, the healthcare sector is in a unique, and I would say, advantageous position. We are confronting the biggest challenge of our generation, which is ageing. We have AI technology on our side, which we are in a position to titrate, introducing it judiciously into our system to help tackle our challenge.

This also means healthcare leaders are in a special position to envision the future, mobilise people and synergise human skills and AI to benefit our patients. With that in mind, let me offer a few thoughts on what healthcare leaders need to do.

STRATEGY AND VISION

First, we need to define and articulate our strategy—how are we serving customers differently? What is the big change?

I find the example of PSA Singapore inspiring. I used to oversee the PSA as the minister for transport. PSA has been doing very well over the past few years. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions and a setback in global trade, container volumes are rising.