Dr. Harsha Jayakody was pleased to serve as a member of the Resource Panel at the Sri Lanka Medical Association Pre-Congress Hands-on Workshop on "Artificial Intelligence for Clinicians."

The workshop provided a valuable platform to share insights and engage in discussions on Large Language Models, prompt engineering, and the growing applications of artificial intelligence in medical research, education, and clinical practice.

Together with an accomplished panel of experts, Dr. Jayakody contributed to discussions aimed at helping clinicians better understand and apply AI in a responsible, practical, and effective manner within modern healthcare.

He extends his appreciation to the Sri Lanka Medical Association and the Expert Committee on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine for organizing this timely and highly relevant workshop.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is already reshaping healthcare worldwide. In simple terms, it is a tool that can create new content—like clinical notes, images, treatment plans, or even patient education—by learning from large datasets. Hospitals in countries like the US and UK use it to cut paperwork, guide decisions, and improve efficiency.

For low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the potential is even greater. GenAI can support nurses in remote villages, automate prescriptions and reports, scan thousands of chest X-rays for TB, predict outbreaks, and deliver health messages in local languages. It can save time, reduce costs, and extend care to those who need it most.

Challenges remain: poor connectivity, limited data, and ethical concerns. But by investing in digital infrastructure, open standards, training, and clear rules, LMICs can harness GenAI as a powerful engine of digital transformation—bringing healthcare that is fair, affordable, and accessible to all.

The digital transformation of healthcare has revolutionized patient care, with electronic medical records (EMRs), telemedicine, and AI-driven diagnostics improving efficiency. However, these advancements also pose challenges, particularly in doctor-patient interactions.

Many patients today notice their doctors spending more time on screens than engaging with them directly. This shift, driven by extensive documentation requirements, can extend consultation times and reduce valuable face-to-face interaction. Even tech-savvy doctors struggle with data entry, diverting attention from patient care.

To ensure technology enhances rather than hinders healthcare, simplicity is key. Digital tools should be intuitive, minimizing data entry during consultations. Automating tasks and utilizing pre-visit digital forms can streamline processes, allowing doctors to focus on medical care.

Another concern is the potential loss of human connection in healthcare. Empathy, eye contact, and bedside manner are crucial for patient trust. Solutions like voice-to-text software and digital prescriptions can assist with documentation without disrupting doctor-patient engagement.

As digital healthcare evolves, maintaining a balance between efficiency and human touch is essential. By prioritizing user-friendly technology and preserving personal interactions, we can enhance healthcare delivery while ensuring patients feel heard and cared for.

Healthcare is being rapidly revolutionalized by Artificial Intelligence (AI), bringing transformative changes that enhance speed, accuracy, and decision-making across various healthcare domains. Medical images, such as X-rays, CT scans and MRI scans can be shiftly analyze with AI powered tools and provide rapid and accurate results, significantly reducing time for diagnosis. It may also improve the efficiency and support decision making of the clinicians. Detection of conditions like cancer early, perticulary in the radiology and pathology fields can save many lives in the world.

Additionally, AI offers data-driven insights by analyzing electronic health records (EHRs) to predict patient behaviour and certain disease patterns specially in non-communicable diseases such as Diabetes, Hypertension and metabolic syndrome. These predictive capabilities enable healthcare providers to act proactively and support decision making in clinicians. The accuracy vastly improves patient outcomes and also boosts confidence in healthcare systems. Furthermore, AI supports doctors in better clinical decision makings by processing vast amounts of data, identifying trends, and providing evidence-based recommendations swiftly. This assistance empowers clinicians to focus on more personalized care while improving overall efficiency within their busy schedules. Despite its immense potential, the integration of AI into healthcare requires careful navigation of challenges.

Proper regulations and ethical frameworks are essential to ensure its safe and equitable adoption. Data privacy and data security must be prioritized to protect sensitive patient information. AI systems must also be transparent and interpretable to build trust among healthcare providers and patients. The blackbox phenomenon needs to be discouraged.

Addressing biases in AI algorithms is another critical concern, as biased data can lead to disparities in care delivery. Regulatory oversight is necessary to validate the accuracy and safety of AI applications, ensuring accountability in their use. Whether we like it or not, AI is set to dominate the healthcare industry within the next decade. It is our responsibility to work collaboratively, streamline its implementation, and harness its potential for the betterment of humanity. AI will never replace doctors but will serve as a powerful tool to enhance their capabilities and make healthcare more efficient and effective - provided it is used responsibly and ethically.

The recent WONCA 2024 South Asia Regional Conference, which also marked the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the College of General Practitioners of Sri Lanka, was a grand event held at the Shangri-La Hotel Colombo over three engaging days. This significant MICE event attracted numerous participants from various countries.

Dr. Harsha Jayakody, representing the Health Information Unit (HIU) at the Ministry of Health, delivered a significant presentation at the conference's scientific sessions. He revealed key findings from a comprehensive trilingual web-based survey involving 120 healthcare workers from 30 state sector hospitals. His presentation underscored the urgent need for targeted capacity building to drive digital health transformation in outpatient departments across Sri Lanka.

As a pioneer and leader in digital health in Sri Lanka, Dr. Jayakody emphasized the critical need for capacity building among healthcare staff to promote digital health in the outpatient department setup of selected state sector hospitals. His contributions underscored the importance of equipping healthcare professionals with the necessary skills to leverage digital tools effectively, ensuring improved patient care and operational efficiency.

The hospitals are still stuck in the 20th century which was clearly shown during the pandemic. They were not ready at all to cope with the demand and were unprepared even in the developed world. Though digitalization has evolved in every other sector, digital health is not embraced fully from top to bottom in the institutional healthcare sector. It's time to rethink and redesign the hospital sector matching the needs of the 21st century. By leveraging digital technologies and embracing patient designs, a patient centric approach will make hospitals more suitable for the future needs of mankind.

Imagine a future where your own couch in your living room can be a diagnostic lab or an examination room or even a wellness hub! All your health data will be shared and visualized by your General Practitioner via remote health monitoring devices and the doctor or the caretaker appears on the screen of your own tab via a live video consultation telemedicine session. A doctor visit to a hospital will only be when it is absolutely needed. Mostly the hospitals will be catering Acute Emergencies, intensive care facilities, radiology and operating theaters for minor/ major surgeries.

There may be centralized digital data centers which analyze the patient’s own health data and facilitate digital support systems for doctors to provide more accurate diagnosis and personalized treatment plans including continuous health monitoring. Digital health with Artificial intelligent technologies may provide seamless processes to enhance patient experience to overcome the lacking physical interactions. Robotic involvements and process automations can help the care givers in the hospitals to provide more time for essential patient care rather than spending time for documentation and logistic issues.

The future hospital designs may be changed according to the patient's needs and expectations. The hospital's rooms will be more visually appealing and surrounded with screens. The augmented reality technology will be used to make the environment and experience more friendly during the healing journey.

Though the technology may overcome most aspects of the future hospital care, the acute and complex patients will still rely on experienced human hands.

Dr. Harsha Jayakody
Healthcare Entrepreneur
MBBS (Sri Lanka) MBA in Health Admin (Malaysia) MSc in Biomedical Informatics (Sri Lanka)
MD in Health Informatics (Sri Lanka)

In an age characterized by unparalleled technological strides and rapid shifts in healthcare dynamics, the concept of "Healthcare Entrepreneurship" has emerged as a radiant gateway for both budding professionals and the industry on the whole. Amidst the intersection of healthcare and innovation, there has never been a more pivotal moment to inspire young minds to embrace the spirit of entrepreneurial thinking.