Mauritius Doctor: 'AI Should Be a Springboard, Not a Crutch'

As artificial intelligence tools become increasingly present in healthcare settings worldwide, one Mauritian general practitioner is urging caution alongside optimism. Dr Oomar Mowlah, a GP based in Mauritius, has spoken out about the growing role of AI in medicine — arguing that technology should enhance a doctor's abilities, not substitute for them. "AI must be a springboard, not a crutch," Dr Mowlah told Le Défi Media, encapsulating a view that many in the global medical community are beginning to echo as AI diagnostic tools, symptom checkers, and clinical decision-support systems become more widely adopted. **The Promise of AI in Medicine** Artificial intelligence has shown genuine promise in healthcare. Algorithms can now screen medical images for early signs of cancer, flag abnormal lab results, and help identify drug interactions faster than any human could manually. In resource-constrained health systems — like Mauritius, where public hospitals serve a population of over 1.3 million across a relatively small island — AI tools could potentially ease pressure on overstretched GPs and specialists. Dr Mowlah acknowledges these benefits. Used correctly, he says, AI can help doctors work more efficiently, catch things they might miss under time pressure, and give patients faster answers. **The Risk: Over-Reliance** But the doctor's warning centres on dependency. When clinicians begin deferring to AI outputs without applying their own clinical reasoning, the risks multiply. AI systems can be trained on datasets that don't reflect local populations, miss rare conditions, or produce confident-sounding but incorrect conclusions — a phenomenon known as "hallucination" in large language models. In a country like Mauritius, where the patient population has specific epidemiological characteristics — including high rates of diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease — blindly following an algorithm calibrated elsewhere could lead to misdiagnosis or inappropriate treatment. Dr Mowlah's position is clear: doctors must remain the decision-makers. AI should inform, not instruct. **What This Means for Patients in Mauritius** For everyday Mauritians visiting their GP or a public health facility, the immediate impact of AI may still feel distant. But the conversation Dr Mowlah is contributing to has real implications: - **Private clinics** in Mauritius are increasingly investing in digital health tools, including AI-assisted imaging and electronic patient records. - **The Ministry of Health** has been exploring digital transformation as part of broader healthcare reform. - **Medical students and young doctors** are entering a profession where AI literacy is becoming as important as clinical training. Dr Mowlah's message is ultimately one of balance: embrace the technology, but never let it erode the human judgment that remains at the heart of good medicine. Source: Le Défi Media