The ChatMED project coordinator, prof. Monika Simjanoska Misheva, had the pleasure this morning of joining Македонија наутро to talk about what Generative AI really means for healthcare and why the conversation in North Macedonia needs to move from “whether” to “how.”
A few of the key messages from our discussion:
🔹 AI is already here. Artificial intelligence isn’t new to medicine — devices with built-in AI are already assisting clinicians with diagnostics. What’s new is how rapidly the technology is maturing, and how quickly it will be woven into everyday clinical practice.
🔹 Software is the easy part. Through ChatMED — a Horizon Europe Twinning project coordinated by FCSE with partners from Slovenia, Serbia, and Austria — we work on two pillars: research and education. But the real challenge isn’t building the software. It’s implementing it ethically and safely, within the frameworks set by the EU AI Act and other regulations. North Macedonia is actively working to align with these rules, and if we want to lead European projects, we must demonstrate that we have the mechanisms to apply them.
🔹 AI will not replace doctors. It is a tool to improve efficiency and diagnostic accuracy. Clinical judgment, empathy, and responsibility stay where they belong — with the physician.
🔹 The system is only as good as its data. AI learns from human practice, so the accuracy of its predictions depends directly on the quality of the information we feed it. That places a real responsibility on how we collect, curate, and share medical data.
🔹 Education must be interdisciplinary. Engineers need to understand the clinical logic doctors use. Doctors need to learn how to use these technologies critically. Neither side can do this alone — and that is exactly the gap ChatMED is designed to close.
🔹 Patients are part of the equation. More and more people are using AI tools to explore their symptoms before coming in. I see this as a positive trend — patients arrive better informed, with sharper questions. But we also need to remember that AI can be wrong, because it draws on human-generated literature that is itself imperfect.
“Realistically, I expect that within about five years we will see AI-based systems publicly operating as a support layer of the Macedonian healthcare system. To get there well, we need more than good code. We need a national campaign for AI literacy — not just in healthcare, but across every sector — so that citizens, professionals, and institutions can interpret AI outputs correctly and use these tools to genuinely improve efficiency and quality of life.”
Grateful to the Македонија наутро team for the invitation and for bringing this conversation to a wide audience. 🙏
▶️ Full interview: https://youtu.be/sf3ogH4uazM
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