By Dr. Korshie Dumor
Many years ago, as a young medical officer newly posted to the Volta Regional Hospital, I received a late-night call while visiting my parents in Accra. A woman in obstructed labour had arrived after three days at a ruralfacility. Her baby, lying sideways in the womb, could not be delivered naturally. There was no fetal heartbeat. Her life, too, was hanging in the balance.
I made the two-and-a-half-hour journey back through the night and went straight to the theatre. The mother survived, but it was too late for the child.
That case has stayed with me throughout my medical career. It forced me to confront a difficult question: how many lives are lost in Ghana not because doctors do not care, but because distance, delay, and limited resources stand between patients and timely treatment?
Today, that same question is leading us toward a new conversation, one centered on artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence, simply put, refers to computer systems designed to perform tasks that normally require human judgment. In healthcare, this can mean helping doctors read X-rays more quickly, identifying disease patterns earlier, transcribing patient notes, predicting medication errors, or directing patients to the nearest available services.
This is not science fiction. Around the world, hospitals are already using these tools to reduce waiting times, improve diagnosis, and support overburdened staff. For countries like Ghana, where specialist care is unevenlydistributed and rural access remains a challenge, the possibilities are significant.
Imagine a district hospital where a clinician can receive instant support in interpreting an ultrasound. Maternal emergencies could be flagged earlier through smart referral systems. Intelligent health records that allow doctors to make faster, safer decisions.
Yet enthusiasm must be matched with caution.
Artificial intelligence is not a replacement for the doctor, the nurse, or the human touch that defines good medicine. It is only as good as the data and judgment behind it. Systems developed in Europe or North America cannot simply be imported and expected to understand Ghanaian disease patterns, healthcare limitations, or local patient realities.
There are also serious questions about patient privacy, cost, unequal access, and the danger of clinicians becoming overly dependent on machines.
For this reason, Ghana must not be a passive consumer of artificial intelligence. We must help shape it, regulate it, and train it around our own needs.
It is fitting, then, that from August 3 to 4, experts, clinicians, educators, and policymakers will gather at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho to discuss the future of artificial intelligence in healthcare. This is more than an academic meeting. It is an opportunity to decide whether technology will merely arrive in Ghana, or whether Ghana will actively direct how it is used to save lives.
The mother I operated on years ago in Ho reminds me that every delay in healthcare has a human face. If artificial intelligence can help us shorten those delays, then this is a conversation Ghana cannot afford to ignore.
