Why Pakistan is lagging behind in AI?
(Particularly in Health Care Systems)

Introduction:
We all know that AI makes up a major part of the hope that comes along with any sort of diagnosis i e. the biggest set back for some ordinary human. You may call them a patient. Or if you are not from an Information technology background, read on to find out how this technology makes up most of the progress yet to be discovered in health sector primarily in Pakistan. The first question that might come to your mind will be “What is this AI?” AI, abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence is a field of study and technology where we make, or attempt to make computers intelligent enough so that they are able to perform tasks to the capability of a human. So what are the tasks that we want to get performed by computers that can be better done by humans? These tasks range from anything between cleaning to switching electrical appliances on and off to reading a human’s brain. Now how does a machine read a human brain? Well that’s a lot of science just like your therapist can tell when you are felling anxious. Now that we know what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is let’s move on to our objective for this particular research article.
If you did not know before, this same AI has made major breakthroughs in aiding the medical industry. If we do not talk about Pakistan right now, Most countries who are known for their progress in technology, have come up with intelligent machines that can even diagnose a certain disease at an earlier stage. Indians by far, our competitors in AI have particularly made huge progress in the tech world and taken over a significant percentage of jobs in the IT world. Now my point is, Why Pakistan is lagging far behind in all of the above scenario? Are we less blessed? Does our country not have enough talent and/or resources? Are we not funding enough AI projects? Does our youth not have access to great or enough opportunities in the field of AI? What is it? If any of the above is true then what will be the solution or our approach as emerging computer scientists towards it? And if none of the above answers our question then where is it that we lack? All of this and more will be discussed in this short research based article. It is equally significant to discuss how this research topic is important to work on. Let me tell you the next age and the ages to come are going to be the era of technology. If we do not realize right now that we as a nation need to build our foundation strong in this field we will surely be met by regrets. As a Muslim nation we have to lead the world in any way at some point of time so why not polish our own capabilities so that we can become a big influence in the world and lead it by the right rules. Now let us come to why this research should be done or touched at least? It is because not enough study has been conducted on the topic before and the studies conducted have a time gap to it so now we need it to update them.

Methodology:
The methodology for this research article is simple. I have collected the previous articles on similar topics. Next step was to skim through them to find out what areas were never touched and discussed and I rarely found this particular topic being discussed. Another way to conduct a study related to it that came to my mind was circulating the questionnaire through social media ( again, technology to the rescue.) and collecting the answers of real people associated with my field i.e. Computer Science. Now that I circulated the questionnaire, as expected I could not receive the amount of responses that is too much so my sample space is small but again the questions are really general so we can find out what people think even when a small number of them participate in the survey. Let’s move on to what questions were asked in the small survey that I conducted.
As a computer science student are you willing to contribute to the health sector?
Options were:
Yes, to some extent.
No, It is not my expertise.
What are the factors affecting your lack of participation in AI?
Checkbox options were:
Lack of training resources.
Lack of sponsorship by Government and/or aids.
Less exposure, be it towards technology or opportunities
Faulty education system
Better and vast opportunities in other fields
Why AI has not progressed in health sector as much as in other countries?
Options were:
Lack of interest of the Government
IT professionals not contributing enough because of how slim the opportunities are
Both
To what extent can AI be used to make a huge breakthrough in health sector?
Options were:
Major
Minor
Now that I had designed a survey form it was time to collect data. The results of which will be discussed in the next section of this research article. Now let us ponder for a second, how will the student of computer science / IT background respond to these questions. Can it sum it up why there is such low and slow progress of AI in Pakistan especially in the health sector? That is for you to decide when I give my final verdict at the end of this article.

Results:
A sample space of 15 students and/or active participants in the industry was used in this study. The photo illustrations of the study answer each and every question that came to mind that can be a factor involving the raised question in this research article. Following are the results of the small study conducted:

Discussion:
As we can see from the results 60% of the people who were the sample space of this survey are “Willing” to contribute towards AI in the health sector. Now the question arises whether they will be specialized enough to contribute in future keeping in mind the fact that our sample space is just a group of students for now. We can find out whether they feel like they will have the opportunity to play their part or not from their responses in the questions asked afterwards. To the rest 40% of those who said that it is not in their expertise to follow a career or play a role in progress of AI in health sector especially we triggered a question that what were those factors affecting their lack of interest or participation in making a change in the world of medical science through AI also those 60% who were willing were asked the same.
Our study concluded that lack of training resources was one of the most chosen answer, which was followed by lack of exposure towards technology and opportunities. 22.22% agreed that Government did not seem interested in funding such projects or training programs for that. Meanwhile 14.81% thinks that our education system is to blame. Coming towards our last option that is better and vast opportunities in other fields is only chosen by 3.7% people so I can guess people are yet not ready to accept the fact that in our country Pakistan we are not being offered jobs in this sector at a good rate. Let us move on to the results of our next question. We asked the same people whether it was Government’s lack of interest in the field that cause such major setbacks in progress or IT professionals’ not contributing enough towards this field? To my surprise no one thinks that it is only the irresponsibility on IT professionals’ side that we are lagging far behind today. But a major percentage i.e. 60.67% thinks both Government and IT professionals are responsible for the lagging. Now apart from the debate of who’s more responsible for the lagging progress let us consider the fact whether people accept it or not that AI can make a major breakthrough in medical science. Yes you guessed it right. 100% agree it can. If you have less idea of how, you can analyze it from the fact that AI is being relied upon for the recent issue of covid’19 vaccine. This study is weak in the perspective that the sample space is small but we needed to start somewhere right! At the same time the strength can be analyzed by the fact that there was no right or wrong answer to the questions asked in the study conducted. This has strongly sparked an urge to think upon this issue and give a reason behind it.

My Verdict:
Needless to say that all the above factors mentioned in the discussion and results section matter to some extent in the case of low progress of AI in health-sector. We need to understand the fact that even though 60% of the students that filled the survey form are willing to give their part in the journey towards major breakthroughs in the field of AI and healthcare, they might not be given the opportunity to do so, from where the second point of concern arises. We also need to consider the fact that there are relatively lesser opportunities given to the fresh candidates to work on such projects. Let us say that there is a good job in AI sector, they will still ask for a huge amount of experience in Pakistan or at-least an MSc. Degree for that. Let us say a candidate did get a chance to step in the industry. Are there enough resources or sponsors willing to invest in health-care industry in Pakistan? You can pretty much evaluate this issue from the fact that when covid’19 hit us we needed immediate assistance from the progressed countries to aid the patients even with adequate amount of ventilators. Now let’s move on to training resources. Students in the sample space agree that there is a lack of enough or proper training resources in Pakistan. Well, if so what is the solution? Can we import resources or trainers like products we cannot manufacture in our country? Of-course not. We are the actual resource for our own country. WE are the ones who need to start giving youth opportunities in order to offer them the growth and nourishment that they need to become the asset for the country. This is the time to stop thinking selfishly. Both the Industry specialists/potential candidates and the higher authorities. Yes we need to affirm that there are needs of the IT specialists too they will not and do not need to work for free. But backing off from the field just because you cannot find your kickstart is not the solution in such times when even students all-over the world are contributing by participating in developing algorithms for finding the best formula for the covid’19 vaccine. Now is the time to prove we do not lack talent. Meanwhile the students of their relevant field need to start thinking responsibly towards their career and how it can contribute in the progress of Pakistan be it this area or any other. The last point I want to put on the table in that a huge amount of talent is exported to other countries. Wait what? Talent? Exported? Yes. Our youth or say some significant percentage of the youth prefers going abroad in search of a better lifestyle or career opportunity. Well, again back to my previous point. We need to be selfless and not just us the Government too. On these notes I will end my research based thought provoking article. My message to the reader is give your best for what you feel passionate about as your country needs it. Let us hope that we raise a voice for this issue in any way be it through just writing about it and one day it will be heard.