On the afternoon of November 27, the National Assembly discussed the draft Law on Artificial Intelligence.
Delegate Tran Khanh Thu (Hung Yen delegation) said that the health sector is considered one of the fields with great potential for applying artificial intelligence (AI), with clear impacts on the diagnosis, treatment, patient management process, as well as research and development of pharmaceuticals.
In Vietnam, the application of AI in healthcare is constantly developing but facing many challenges.
The delegate cited evidence that recently, a patient (55 years old, in Ho Chi Minh City) was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment in a state of drowsiness and unknown surrounding conditions.
The patient's daughter said that she had previously seen her mother feeling dizzy and having difficulty breathing, so she asked AI to diagnose her, and the results showed high blood pressure. The child measured her mother's blood pressure and found it high, so she trusted him more and went to the pharmacy to buy medicine.
However, after finishing drinking, the mother's condition became worse, she was tired and vomited a lot, until she could no longer recognize it and was taken to the emergency room.
At the hospital, the doctor determined that the patient had brain damage, a stroke, and although he was given emergency care through critical condition, the sequelae were inevitable.
Currently, the internet is very popular, especially AI - a very good source of information for patients when they want to learn more about their diseases; such as mechanisms, causes of diseases and symptoms of diseases and preparing questions for doctors when they do not understand clearly or coordinate with doctors is a good thing.
"However, absolutely no one should use search results to diagnose or prescribe drugs for themselves," the delegate said, asking, "Does the drug seller under these AI prescriptions violate the law? ".
Therefore, the delegate hopes that this draft law will have more specific legal framework provisions to manage AI products in healthcare, especially regarding the responsibility of relevant parties.
Delegate Le Van Kham (HCMC delegation) said that there should be separate regulations for some high-risk sectors such as healthcare, finance, and transportation. Especially in health, this is an area with a great risk of errors, directly related to people's health and lives, so strict control is required.
For example, AI technologies that support clinical decision making such as diagnostic AI, AI predicting risk of death or complications, surgical robots using AI, AI supporting prescriptions or treatment regimens must be subject to mandatory testing.
At the same time, there should be separate regulations on monitoring AI circulation in healthcare, such as periodic reports, quick incident warnings, algorithm audits, and real-time error monitoring.
The delegate proposed assigning the responsibility of managing AI in healthcare to the Ministry of Health to coordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology to issue standards, regulations and technical instructions. It is also necessary to consider regulating the voluntary classification of risks for AI in healthcare by suppliers as in Article 9 of the draft law.
There should be separate regulations on medical data because this is a specific type of data, requiring high requirements for accuracy, synchronization, security, specificity and comparison capability.
This will help develop AI in healthcare, ensure patient safety, quality health care services and reduce social risks.
