AI with Surveillance Data Can Stop Next Pandemic: Guleria

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Artificial Intelligence Can Stop Next Pandemic, says Guleria

By Raisina Correspondent

New Delhi, October 25: Former director of the AIIMS Randeep Guleria on Friday said that the world can stop the next pandemic by employing artificial intelligence (AI) backed by authentic surveillance data. He stated that the lack of access to the cluster surveillance data of Wuhan in China spread the Covid-19 pandemic to the world.

“We need to have surveillance data at the local and international levels. The data should be able to pick up cluster transmission of viruses. With authentic data, we can employ AI to stop the spread of the next pandemic,” said Gulaeria while taking part in a panel discussion on health organised by The Week in the national capital.

The Week on Friday hosted a day-long discussion with health professionals in the national capital. Guleria along with other medical professionals delved into the growing scope of AI in health services. Guleria was the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences when the Covid019 pandemic broke out globally.

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Guleria stated that the world was without the benefit of the scale of AI in health services at the time of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We were without the benefits of the AI. Also, we were lacking the cluster data of Wuhan from where the pandemic broke out, first travelling to Italy and Europe, and afterwards to all parts of the world,” added Guleria.

He underlined that the AT can track something uncommon from the cluster data of the outbreak of viruses. “Had there been a good surveillance system or data points, we could have contained the Covid-19 pandemic. We could have contained the cluster transmission locally,” added Guleria.

The global community of virologists had questioned China for not timely informing the world about the Covid-19 outbreak. China had been in denial for several months even after the Corona virus had traveled to Europe and other continents. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had also been slammed globally for failing in timely alerting on the outbreak of the Coronavirus.

Taking part in the panel discussion, Sudarshan Ballal, chairman of the Manipal Hospital, said that the 21st century has been a century of viruses. He noted that the world has so far seen the outbreak of the H1N1, Zika, and Coronavirus. He also stressed that AI has a growing role in preventing ailments and healthcare.

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Guleria informed that the AIIMS had teamed up with IIT, Delhi to work out an App during the Covid-19 pandemic. “We learnt a lot on the use of AI in dealing with the challenges of the pandemic,” added Guleria. The App was deployed to check the chest X-rays for tracing the Cobid-19 infections in patients, added Guleria. He also stated that App sensitised the people about the proximity of the Covid-19 infected patients.

Yet, Guleria underlined that the medical profession seeks personal attention while dealing with patients. “”For us, the patient is at the center of attention. A lot of interaction takes place in the course of treatment. Healthcare is both an art and science. We have to listen to patients a lot with empathy,” said Guleria, adding that AI cannot be doing what a doctor does with a patient in the course of the treatment.