Shiraz University of Medical Sciences has opened a new path in integrating data knowledge with clinical decision-making by launching the first laboratory for evaluating health products and services based on artificial intelligence; a move that makes Shiraz the starting point of Iran's smart health, and its goal is to improve the quality of medical services and provide patients with more equitable access to current specialties.
According to Radio Salamat's public relations, Dr. Nahid Abolpour, a faculty member of the Artificial Intelligence Department at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and head of the University's Artificial Intelligence Clinical Laboratory and Biodata Bank, announced the launch of the first laboratory for evaluating health products and services based on artificial intelligence in the country on Radio Salamat's "Noyar" program.
He pointed out that this laboratory has been operating since 1401 with a national and forward-looking approach and has three main departments, adding: preparing biological data for artificial intelligence analyses, designing and developing smart software in collaboration with clinical professors, and the regulatory department, which is responsible for the clinical evaluation of health software.
According to the head of the specialized working group on health and medicine of the National Association of Iranian Artificial Intelligence, this center has been able to receive an official license from the Communications Technology Organization and has been introduced as a reference laboratory as the first specialized health laboratory in the country, along with other laboratories in the field of artificial intelligence.
Emphasizing that artificial intelligence will never replace doctors, he added: Clinical decision-making is still in the hands of doctors, but artificial intelligence can act as an assistant alongside them. Especially in deprived areas where access to expert specialists is difficult, smart software can play an important role in diagnosis and treatment under the supervision of experienced doctors.
Abolpour continued: "The main goal of this laboratory is to use the experience of professional doctors to develop software that can help improve the quality of health services, alongside general practitioners or nurses."
The member of the National Health Artificial Intelligence Steering and Policy Council concluded by pointing out: "When an expert doctor is present, definitive and correct decisions are made, but in the absence of such experts, artificial intelligence software can help patients and medical staff with the guidance and supervision of doctors."
