Automating Routine Tasks with AI
Apollo Hospitals plans to increase its investment in artificial intelligence tools to reduce the workload for doctors and nurses. By automating routine tasks such as medical documentation, the hospital aims to improve efficiency in healthcare delivery, a top executive told Reuters.
AI Adoption in Indian Hospitals
Hospitals across India struggle with overworked doctors and nurses managing heavy patient loads. To address this issue, they are turning to AI to enhance diagnostic accuracy, predict complications, refine robotic surgeries, enable virtual medical care, and optimize hospital operations.
Apollo’s AI Investments and Expansion Plans
With over 10,000 beds, Apollo is one of India’s largest hospital networks. Over the past two years, it allocated 3.5% of its digital spending to AI and plans to increase this investment, according to Joint Managing Director Sangita Reddy.
“Our goal is to free up two to three hours daily for doctors and nurses through AI interventions,” Reddy said in an interview last month.
As reported by reuters, Apollo Hospitals aims to expand its bed capacity by one-third in the next four years. It plans to use a portion of the additional revenue from this expansion to enhance AI adoption without increasing costs.
Enhancing Healthcare Efficiency with AI Tools
Apollo’s AI tools, currently in early stages, will analyze electronic medical records to recommend diagnoses, tests, and treatments. These tools will also transcribe doctors’ observations, generate discharge summaries faster, and create daily schedules based on nurses’ notes.
Additionally, Apollo is developing an AI tool to help clinicians prescribe the most effective antibiotic for specific illnesses.
Addressing Nurse Attrition with AI Support
Apollo hopes AI-driven efficiency will ease the workload on nurses, as it faces a high attrition rate of 25%, expected to rise to 30% by the end of fiscal 2025.
Challenges in AI Adoption Across Indian Hospitals
Other major Indian hospitals, including Fortis Healthcare, Tata Memorial Hospital, Manipal Hospitals, Narayana Health, Max Healthcare, Medanta, and Aster DM Healthcare, have also invested in AI tools. However, challenges such as high technology costs, varied data formats, limited electronic medical records, and profitability concerns have slowed AI adoption, according to Joydeep Ghosh, a partner at Deloitte India.
Despite these challenges, Apollo remains committed to leveraging AI to transform healthcare operations and improve patient outcomes.