Indian Staffing Federation President Rituparna Chakraborty spoke about the impact of AI on the country’s healthcare sector in a recent Q & A published by the Economic Times. 

AI is poised to deliver significant improvements and transform the sector, Chakraborty said. When it comes to job roles, she says AI “will mainly replace low-level healthcare roles who don’t have direct contact with patients, or who do repetitive tasks”.  However, Chakraborty added that AI it will open up new roles in health tech, clinical trials, mobile apps, assisted consultation via smart assistants and chatbots, etc.

Chakraborty said overall the healthcare sector is slower to adapt to technology shifts compared to other industries due to a number of reasons including regulation, out of pocket nature of spend and an overburdened system where the focus is more on primary healthcare rather than disruptive technology interventions. As for other roles within healthcare, she says AI will complement and not directly replace roles in the sector.