Doha, Qatar:“If AI can give you the same support for 10 dirhams that a specialist charges 950 for, why wouldn't you choose it?”

With that striking question, Sophie Smith, Founder and CEO of UAE-based Nabta Health, set the tone at the inaugural Mobile World Congress 2025 (MWC25) Doha, where AI took centre stage as hundreds of tech founders, researchers, and investors gathered to explore the future of connected innovation.

The two-day event, which concluded yesterday, served as the new flagship MWC gathering for the Middle East and North Africa. It showcased next-generation technologies from 5G to digital therapeutics. Among the key discussions on the 4YFN Stage was AI-enabled healthcare, where Smith joined the panel exploring the global $2 trillion digital health market and how AI and tech are reshaping healthcare in the MENA region.

Smith leads Nabta Health, the Middle East's pioneering AI-powered women's health company, recently recognised by TIME Magazine as one of the world's Top HealthTech Companies. For her, AI is not an add-on but the core of a new healthcare paradigm she calls hybrid healthcare.

“We coined the term in 2018. Our entire model is built on three pillars: patient centricity, decentralisation, and augmented intelligence," Smith told The Peninsula on the sideline of the event.

"We combine patient, clinician, and artificial intelligence to reorient specialist knowledge around the individual. Our model simply wouldn't operate without AI,” she said.

While AI is rapidly transforming diagnostics and remote monitoring, Smith said its most immediate impact may be in mental health, especially in regions with severe shortages of psychologists and psychiatrists.

Sophie Smith, Founder and CEO of UAE-based Nabta Health

“In the Middle East, access ratios are far outside WHO recommendations. Specialist mental healthcare relies heavily on conversation, observation, and therapeutic techniques like cognitive behavioural therapy of which none require physical examination.”

That makes mental health uniquely suited to AI-driven care, according to Smith. "AI could eventually replace up to 100% of specialist care in cases where no physical intervention is needed."

Despite her bold predictions, Smith was clear that AI will not eliminate the need for human clinicians.

“Doctors will never disappear. But AI will allow people to make informed decisions that reflect their circumstances. If specialist care is financially or culturally inaccessible, AI can offer an alternative," she told The Peninsula.

She described the reality many face:“What if every psychiatrist appointment costs 950 dirhams, and you earn 3,000 a month? You will never go. But if an AI agent can provide similar support for 10 dirhams? Most people will choose that.”

Smith anticipates that AI will make up to 80% of specialist knowledge more efficient, automated, and decentralised, expanding care to millions who currently have none.

Asked when AI might begin replacing specialty care, Smith said that“it's already happening.”
However, she noted that the Middle East and Africa face one hurdle: the lack of large local datasets.

“We need to build regional data foundations first. Maybe that takes two, three, five years. But once we have it, within a couple of years after that, we'll see major specialties supported or even replaced by AI-enabled agents,” she told The Peninsula.

Smith added that when this shift arrives, the choice will ultimately lie with the people themselves:“AI won't eliminate doctors, but it will give individuals the option to choose what kind of care best fits their needs, their comfort, and their circumstances.”

“What changes is that people will finally have a choice whether they prefer an AI agent, a human specialist, or a combination of both.”

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