Tinubu Hails UNILORIN’s Research On AI-Powered ECG For African Patients

President Bola Tinubu has commended the University of Ilorin for its research achievements in artificial intelligence-powered electrocardiogram (ECG) testing, describing the institution’s work as an important contribution to medical research and innovation.

Tinubu gave the commendation in his address at the recently concluded convocation ceremony of the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State.

Represented by the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaibah Ahmad, the President said the university had maintained an enduring reputation for academic excellence, institutional discipline, relative industrial stability and prudent resource management.

He said, “I commend the University of Ilorin for its enduring reputation for academic excellence, institutional discipline, relative industrial stability, and prudent resource management.

“I am particularly encouraged by its reported research achievement in areas such as stroke treatment and artificial intelligence-powered electrocardiogram testing. My administration recognizes education as a strategic investment in Nigeria’s future. We will continue to support efforts to improve teaching and learning, expand research capacity, and equip our graduates to compete in an increasingly interconnected world.

“To the university leadership, staff, and entire community, I encourage you to sustain your commitments to scholarship, research, innovation, and responsible citizenship.”

Tinubu noted that universities remained vital to national development because they produced skilled professionals, advanced research, nurtured leadership and generated innovations that strengthened society and the economy.

The presidential commendation comes against the backdrop of research by a renowned cardiologist and Director of the Central Research Laboratory at the University of Ilorin, Prof. Ibrahim Adeola Katibi, who developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system designed to interpret electrocardiograms for African patients.

In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP, Katibi explained the reasons behind the development of an AI-powered ECG interpretation system specifically designed to address the peculiarities of African patients.

Asked what initially inspired the idea that Africans needed their own ECG interpretation system, the cardiologist said repeated cases of misdiagnosis by ECG machines in hospitals, which were subsequently corrected by cardiologists reviewing the results, exposed the limitations of relying solely on automated interpretations.

He said the shortage of cardiologists in Nigeria made it difficult for specialists to be available to every patient requiring cardiac care, thereby creating the need for some degree of automation in diagnosis through artificial intelligence.

Katibi said, “There have been many incidences of ECG machine misdiagnosis in the hospital which are promptly corrected by the cardiologist over-reading the ECG. But of course, there are only about 600 cardiologists to 250 million Nigerians (Ratio of 1 Cardiologist to about half a million population as agaist in the USA, where it is 6 per 100,000 or 1 to 10,000 as recommended by WHO). Therefore, cardiologists would not always be available to every patient with heart condition, thence the need for some degree of automation of diagnosis via Artificial Intelligence (AI).

“To answer your question more tangetially, our team, over the last decade, has demonstrated incontrovertibly, the sharp racial variations in the ECGs of Nigerian, British, Chinese and Indian populations and these are available in public domains for those who are interested in reading further. The situation is even better exemplified now that we have several Nigerians and indeed Africans working and living abroad these days as a result of massive JAPA syndrome.”

Katibi said the need for Africa-specific ECG data had never been in doubt, but the major challenge was finding researchers willing to undertake the demanding and time-consuming work required to develop such a system.

He explained that although the peculiarities of African ECG readings had been recognised for years, efforts to develop a localised interpretation system in Nigeria came much later.

According to him, computer applications for ECG interpretation began in 1960, but his research team carried out what he described as Nigeria’s pioneering work on computer analysis of ECG in 2010.

Katibi said the team’s work involved using computer programming to extract hundreds of raw measurements from ECG recordings obtained from Nigerians and interpreting the results through an automated system, rather than relying on imported ECG machines calibrated using Caucasian data and applying them to Nigerian patients regardless of possible interpretation errors.

He said, “Peculiarities of the African ECG have been well known over the years. The need to localise the solution had been established long time. But unfortunately, even though computer application to the interpretation of ECG began in 1960, the pioneer work in Nigeria on computer analysis of the ECG was done by our team in the year 2010. By this I mean real application of computer programming to extract raw measurements in hundreds from an indigenously Nigerian ECG and interpreting it through automation as against importing Caucasian calibrated ECG machines and using it on Nigerians, irrespective of errors of interpretation.”