Hospitals get ‘bot’ boost in patient care

Hyderabad: The city has joined Bengaluru and Mumbai in adopting AI-driven healthcare, with hospitals integrating advanced tools to improve patient care, diagnosis, and treatment.
These AI systems, including chatbots and interactive kiosks, aim to streamline patient interactions and enhance services while reducing wait times. By incorporating technology into everyday hospital operations, local healthcare providers are enhancing the patient experience, offering support and monitoring in real time.
Several hospitals in the city have already seen significant progress in implementing these systems.
"Chatbots will play a major role in patient care, as WhatsApp is widely used by patients and their attendants," said Dr Devanand Kolothodi, CEO of Aster Prime Hospital.
"Our chatbot will assist patient attendees by tracking grievances instantly, reducing the time spent waiting for staff and offering services to patient attendees like food orders in preferred languages. All WhatsApp interactions are monitored by hospital authorities to ensure quality service," Dr Devanand added.
AI-powered kiosks are another innovation. Dr Inayathullah Ghori, chief information officer of Kamineni Hospital, explained, "Instead of waiting in queues, patients can register directly with doctors, obtain appointment schedules, and even retrieve medical reports from these kiosks, significantly reducing wait times."
AI is also improving continuous patient monitoring. "We've developed an early monitoring system for patients transferred from the ICU to rooms. While hospital staff traditionally notes vital parameters, our AI-based system continuously monitors these and immediately alerts doctors and staff if any alarming changes occur," Dr Ghori said.
Sandeep Guduru, CEO of the Asian Institute of Nephrology and Urology (AINU), added that their AI services include WhatsApp and web-based chatbots for tasks such as booking appointments, finding doctors, and checking medical reports. "Patients can also share feedback, connect with a live agent for personalised support, request a call back, or access location links to navigate the hospital," he said.
Dr Sambit, medical director at KIMS in Secunderabad, shared the hospital's efforts to leverage AI further: "We are developing applications where users can ask questions, find directions, make payments, order lab investigations, and submit grievances directly from home. We also have a grievance module managed by in-house staff. After patient discharge, we analyse conversations with the patient's attendants using AI tools to improve care. While patients are in the hospital, they can make service-specific requests in each department, improving their overall experience."