APPLICABILITY OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE NIGERIAN HEALTHCARE SECTOR: AN IMPERATIVE FOR A LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Abstract

The use of AI technology is now prevalent across the world and the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has been trailblazing, reshaping the way we diagnose, treat and monitor patients. This technology is drastically improving healthcare research and outcomes by producing more accurate diagnoses and enabling more personalized treatments. At present, Nigeria has no legislative framework for dealing with issues arising from the use of AI in the Nigerian healthcare sector, some of these issues includes; increased security risk, cyber-attacks, medical professionals training complications etc. The primary aim of this paper is to accentuate the need for a legal framework for dealing with issues arising from the use of AI systems in the Nigerian healthcare sector. Consequently, the study adopted the doctrinal research methodology, which involves examining journal articles, textbooks, periodical articles and the likes. The study found that despite there being lots of positive comments associated with artificial intelligence in the Nigerian healthcare sector there are also a lot of negative remarks on the application of AI in the Nigeria healthcare sector, one of which is the lack of a legal framework regulating the use of AI in the healthcare sector, the study also found that medical professionals are likely to grapple with legal issues that may arise as hospitals begin, slowly but inevitably, to introduce AI in the Nigerian healthcare sector. The study amongst others, recommended the enactment of a legislation targeted at supporting the use of Artificial Intelligence to expand access to healthcare and eliminating or minimizing the risks presently associated with AI.