LAHORE: Pakistan held its first national convening on artificial intelligence in healthcare at LUMS’ Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering (SBASSE), gathering clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and tech innovators under the National AI Hub to address the country’s fragmented digital health landscape.
Dr Maryam Mustafa, Director of the National AI Hub, warned that despite active innovation across hospitals, universities, and startups, efforts remain siloed — preventing promising pilots from scaling nationally. She called for a unified map of AI tools, datasets, and deployments to drive coordination.
LUMS Vice Chancellor Dr Ali Cheema framed AI adoption as part of a broader “massive transformation problem,” citing Pakistan’s high maternal and child mortality rates as evidence of systemic health pressures.
He stressed that technology alone is insufficient, urging alignment between innovation, behavioural change, and governance reform to avoid the risks of bias and fragmented impact. Organisers described the forum as a first step toward a national AI healthcare roadmap.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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