Healthcare, Services In Kuwait Enter New Era With AI Revolution

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) By Omar Al-Loughani (Report)
KUWAIT, Sept 12 (KUNA) -- As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly expands worldwide across sectors, Kuwait Ministry of Health has moved to apply it in diagnosis, treatment and training of medical personnel to keep pace with advanced developments and deliver top-tier medical and health services.
The Ministry has drawn plans to integrate AI tools in hospitals to improve the speed and accuracy of diagnostics, support clinical care, enhance health research and drug development, and streamline administrative operations.
Key initiatives launched in hospitals span various specialties, particularly medical imaging, surgery and scientific research, after AI proved it contributed to reducing medical errors and easing surgical procedures in less time than conventional operations while delivering more precise outcomes.
Among these efforts, Jaber Al-Ahmad Hospital employs AI in surgery and endoscopy, including ICG blood-flow technology and robotic systems, across general surgery, urology, obstetrics and gynecology.
The Ministry recently chaired a GCC workshop, "Innovation and AI in Healthcare," focusing on deploying technology and AI to develop health systems, improve service quality and strengthen Gulf cooperation.
Kuwait is also keen to leverage AI applications to respond to patient inquiries, explain test results, discuss prescriptions and help direct patients to the appropriate specialty.
In parallel, Kuwaitآ's healthcare is undergoing a major transformation, with AI reshaping delivery in medicine, diagnostics and treatment.
AI has moved from theory to a practical tool that changes healthcareآ's contours, from high-precision early diagnosis and faster drug discovery to personalized therapies tailored to each patient.
This transformation is rooted in "augmented intelligence," positioning AI as a partner to the physician, not a replacement, handling routine tasks and big-data analysis while doctors and researchers focus on clinical decision-making and human interaction.
Reflecting this integration are research efforts at Dasman Diabetes Institute, advances in dentistry, and contributions of nuclear medicine to improve image quality and develop targeted "theranostics," alongside data quality and protection strategies that make care more precise and efficient.
Dr. Anwar Mohammad, a researcher at the Department of Translational Research at the Dasman Diabetes Institute, told KUNA that AI has become pivotal in advancing medical and research sciences, achieving a qualitative leap in predicting protein structures and DNA/RNA interactions thanks to tools such as AlphaFold, opening avenues to accelerate drug discovery by precisely identifying therapeutic targets and understanding disease mechanisms at the molecular level.
He added that AI shortened time and effort in drug discovery and genomics by analyzing vast biological datasets more accurately than traditional methods and mapping gene interactions critical to understanding chronic diseases such as diabetes.
He noted AIآ's role in early diagnosis by enabling detection of precise genetic/protein biomarkers in blood to predict risk of conditions such as type 2 diabetes before symptoms appear.
Protein structure prediction techniques are also being adapted to interpret large patient datasets (lab results and genomics), linking molecular changes to clinical outcomes to improve diagnostic accuracy and advance personalized care.
He said challenges include the need for high-quality, diverse data, the difficulty of interpreting complex models and linking them to clinical practice, and ethical considerations including patient-data privacy.
He affirmed that specialties expected to benefit most in coming years include endocrinology and metabolic diseases, particularly diabetes, along with genomic and personalized medicine centered on gene-based therapies, and oncology, where AI can support development of a new generation of targeted treatments.
He explained that AI strengthens precision medicine by analyzing genomic and clinical data to design individualized treatment plans that reduce side effects, citing Mayo Clinicآ's use of ECG-based algorithms to detect left ventricular dysfunction before symptoms, and support for robotic surgery systems such as Da Vinci to increase accuracy and reduce invasiveness.
He also pointed to challenges - patient-data privacy, algorithmic bias and slow regulatory frameworks - emphasizing that the future lies in integrating AI with human expertise to reinforce critical thinking and humane patient communication.
Dr. Abdullah Maarafi, a dentist, said AI was moving dentistry into an era of predictive, personalized, precise and participatory care, acting as a "clinical co-pilot" that augments the dentistآ's role across all treatment stages.
He said AI helps detect early tooth decay and measure alveolar bone levels with 94.4 percent accuracy via deep-learning radiographic analysis, outperforming dentistsآ' 91.1 percent accuracy, citing the FDA-cleared Overjet platform.
He added that AI extends to diagnosing periodontal disease with accuracy exceeding 90 percent using photographic analysis; supporting implantology through 3D cone-beam CT analysis to map nerves, assess bone volume and plan optimal implant paths with robotic systems such as Yomi.
He noted AI advances orthodontics via automated analysis and tooth-movement simulation in systems like Invisalign, enabling visualization of outcomes before treatment and improving clinic administration by streamlining appointments and speeding administrative processes.
Key challenges include implementation costs and specialized training needs, he said, calling for academic curricula that prepare AI-enabled dentists.
Meanwhile, Chairwoman of the Kuwait Association of Nuclear Medicine Technologists and Practitioners Ahoud Al-Enezi told KUNA that AI is driving a revolution in nuclear medicine by improving diagnosis and enabling precise therapies for diseases such as cancer.
She said AI operates as an integrated partner with nuclear medicine by analyzing PET and SPECT images with high accuracy to reveal subtle details that expedite diagnosis, noting FDA-cleared AI devices increased from six in 2015 to 221 in 2023.
She added that AI enhances image quality with systems such as GE HealthCareآ's Clarify DL, reducing radiation doses by up to 50 percent while automating tumor detection and activity quantification to save time and effort. She said AI also supports theranostics, combining diagnosis and therapy with the same molecular target. (end)
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