KARACHI: Artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming part of cancer care at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where an AI-powered assistant is helping collect patient information and guide cancer patients to the appropriate doctors, while advanced technology is also being used to support diagnosis and radiation-treatment planning.
The latest addition is HAMI, an AI-powered digital assistant introduced by the Patients’ Aid Foundation at JPMC’s Tomotherapy Department. According to the foundation, HAMI assesses patients’ conditions, takes a comprehensive medical history and directs them to the relevant doctor with information about their condition.
The system is designed to support doctors rather than replace them, providing a faster way to gather and organise patient information before clinical assessment.
The development forms part of a wider push to bring artificial intelligence and advanced digital technologies into cancer services at JPMC, one of Pakistan’s major public-sector hospitals.
HAMI begins with the patient, not the machine
For a cancer patient arriving at a busy hospital, one of the first challenges can be explaining a complicated medical history, previous reports and current symptoms before reaching the appropriate specialist.
HAMI is intended to streamline that initial process.
According to Patients’ Aid Foundation, the AI assistant interacts with patients, gathers their medical history and assesses the information before directing them towards the relevant doctor. The foundation describes it as a “Doctors’ Assistant” rather than a replacement for physicians.
Prof Tariq Mahmood explains the wider AI programme
The development was explained to Medical News Pakistan correspondent Abid Lodhi by Prof. Dr. Tariq Mahmood (TI), Professor Emeritus of Radiation Oncology and Board Member Planning & Operations, Patients’ Aid Foundation, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi.
Prof. Mahmood said the introduction of artificial intelligence at JPMC represents an important development in cancer care and is intended to reduce delays and assist doctors in making more precise treatment decisions.
He said AI-assisted technology can help doctors analyse medical information and support earlier identification of cancer, while advanced radiation systems can assist clinicians in targeting tumours while limiting exposure to surrounding healthy tissue.
Prof. Mahmood said the objective is to make advanced cancer diagnosis and treatment more accessible to poor and deserving patients without imposing a financial burden on them.
Patients’ Aid Foundation says cancer treatment at JPMC, including CyberKnife and Tomotherapy, is provided free of charge to patients through its support of the hospital.
AI is becoming part of a larger cancer-care ecosystem
HAMI is not the only artificial-intelligence initiative associated with JPMC.
In 2024, the Sindh government announced plans to introduce advanced AI technology at JPMC in collaboration with Patients’ Aid Foundation and technology company PAXERA. The announced programme included PACS and AI technologies intended to support predictive algorithms based on local Pakistani disease patterns and data.
The objective was to build systems capable of supporting patient care and research while generating data relevant to Pakistan’s own disease patterns rather than relying exclusively on models developed using populations elsewhere.
This is particularly relevant to cancer care, where medical imaging, pathology, patient history and treatment planning generate large quantities of information that can potentially be analysed computationally.
However, AI-supported analysis remains a clinical decision-support tool. The presence of an AI system does not mean that a diagnosis or treatment decision is made independently of a doctor.
Advanced radiation technology already operates at JPMC
The AI initiative is being developed alongside an already extensive radiation-oncology infrastructure at JPMC.
Patients’ Aid Foundation says its JPMC programme includes CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery and Tomotherapy, with both services provided free to patients. The foundation says it supports approximately 50,000 cancer patients annually through its oncology and radiology facilities.
JPMC also has two Radixact X9 Tomotherapy systems, according to Patients’ Aid Foundation, allowing image-guided and intensity-modulated radiation treatment designed to deliver radiation more precisely to tumours while limiting exposure to surrounding tissues.
The technology is particularly relevant to complex tumours where treatment needs to be carefully planned around sensitive organs.
AI can support doctors, but does not replace clinical judgment
Prof. Mahmood stressed that artificial intelligence is not intended to replace doctors.
Instead, he said, it is being introduced to support clinical decision-making, improve accuracy and reduce the possibility of errors while helping manage the large volume of information generated during cancer care.
That distinction is increasingly important as AI becomes more common in medicine.
An AI system can rapidly process medical images, patient information or other data, but physicians remain responsible for interpreting those outputs in the context of the patient's clinical condition.
The same principle applies to radiation therapy: technology can assist with planning and precision, but treatment selection and final clinical decisions require trained specialists.
A patient journey increasingly supported by technology
For patients such as Aslam, who recently received a treatment plan after consultation with doctors at JPMC, the emerging system is intended to reduce some of the administrative and information-gathering delays that can occur during cancer care.
Instead of treating AI as a substitute for the doctor, JPMC's approach is increasingly to place computational tools around the clinical team.
HAMI can gather the initial patient history and help route the patient. AI-assisted systems can support the analysis of medical information, while advanced imaging and radiation platforms help clinicians plan and deliver treatment.
The human specialist remains at the centre of that process.
The focus remains access as well as technology
The significance of the programme is not simply that AI has entered a public hospital.
JPMC and Patients’ Aid Foundation are positioning the technology within a broader effort to make advanced cancer care available to patients who might otherwise be unable to afford it.
Patients’ Aid Foundation says its partnership with JPMC supports more than 20 hospital departments and provides free healthcare services, including advanced oncology treatment. Its published figures indicate that JPMC serves thousands of patients daily through its outpatient and emergency services.
The foundation has also expanded JPMC's radiation infrastructure. A new Bilquis and Abdul Sattar Edhi Breast Radiation Bay, developed through collaboration between the Sindh government, Patients’ Aid Foundation and Edhi Foundation, is designed to expand access to advanced breast cancer radiation treatment. The facility includes Tomotherapy and other modern radiation technologies.
From AI assistance to faster cancer care
The emerging model at JPMC combines several technologies rather than relying on AI alone.
A patient can interact with an AI assistant for initial information gathering, undergo diagnostic imaging and laboratory investigations, have medical information reviewed by specialists and then receive a treatment plan supported by advanced radiation technology where appropriate.
The potential benefit is not simply automation.
It is the possibility of reducing avoidable delays, organising complex patient information and giving doctors more technological support while expanding access to sophisticated cancer treatment.
For a public hospital serving patients who may have limited alternatives, that combination of technology and affordability could become an increasingly important part of cancer care.
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