China embraces AI-assisted healthcare with caution

A visitor tries his hands on a holographic intelligent medical imaging system under the guidance of a staff member at the Light of Internet Expo in Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, Nov. 19, 2024. (Xinhua/Cai Xiangxin)

BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Imagine a hospital where you're greeted by an intelligent robot, and artificial intelligence (AI) technology ensures you receive detailed diagnostic notes swiftly.

In Wuzhen, a small town in east China's Zhejiang Province, an AI-empowered hospital has served thousands of patients since it opened last year. With fewer than ten human doctors and a team of intelligent triage robots, the hospital is at the forefront of integrating technology into healthcare.

Applying AI technology, this hospital has upgraded services such as medical examinations, chronic disease management, and rehabilitation.

Local resident Zhu Weibin recently underwent an AI-based liver function test at the hospital. An automatically generated report diagnosed him with a fatty liver, with AI helping to make the diagnostic indicator of fatty liver accurate to five percent from 30 percent.

"It enables me to intervene in the disease process at an earlier stage," Zhu said.

With the rapid advancement of AI technology, its applications in medical diagnosis and treatment are becoming increasingly widespread in China.

An "AI hospital" model, powered by a large-scale AI system developed at a research institution, is capable of "reading" medical literature and "treating" virtual patients. This cutting-edge system evolves through self-learning and could potentially assist human doctors in real-world medical scenarios in the future.

Another AI medical model developed by a team in Shanghai has successfully "passed" the national medical licensing examination.

By inputting patient complaints, medical history, and physical examination results, the model can provide diagnostic support and recommendations for further treatment.

Large models can process thousands of medical textbooks, enabling them to compare CT images with precision. They utilize smart monitoring beds equipped with vision and tactile sensors to issue early warnings and quickly retrieve medical records to aid in decision-making.

As China looks for new solutions to the challenges posed by an aging population, growing cases of chronic illnesses, and disparities in access to medical resources, more hospitals are incorporating AI technology, benefiting both patients and medical professionals.

A doctor shared a real-life case in which a child was hospitalized twice over nearly a year before experts diagnosed a rare autoimmune disease. AI, however, reached the same conclusion in just a few minutes.

Despite AI's ability to significantly improve the efficiency of image analysis, prescription review, and diagnosis, the final decision remains in the hands of the human doctor.

In November, China's National Health Commission (NHC) and other departments jointly issued the guidelines for AI application scenarios in the health sector.

Covering 84 specific scenarios across categories including medical service management, primary public health services, health industry development, and medical education and research, the guidelines aim to fully leverage AI's advantages.

In this document, from assisting diagnosis and decision-making to treatment planning and surgery -- the keyword "assistance" dominates AI healthcare, as AI serves to support human professionals.

While this medical innovation is advancing rapidly, China has also taken steps to ensure the safety and effectiveness of AI medical applications.

The National Medical Products Administration has released a set of guiding principles for the classification of AI medical software products, clarifying the criteria for managing AI medical software products.

Most of the research related to AI medical devices in China focuses on medical imaging while research in decision-making algorithms remains largely undeveloped, according to You Mao, deputy director of the China National Health Development Research Center under the NHC.

There is still a lack of high-quality data, and a mechanism for real-world data application also needs to be established, You suggested.

Liu Hui, director of the institute of medical information at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, highlighted the importance of establishing and refining scientific, reasonable regulatory policies and technical systems.

These measures can ensure the safety and effectiveness of AI technology in healthcare, providing a better experience and higher-quality medical services for both patients and healthcare professionals, Liu said.