A Nigerian woman, Toluwanimi Blessing Ibitoye-Fatola, has sparked debate online after alleging that some doctors in Nigerian hospitals use ChatGPT to assess patients’ complaints and arrive at diagnoses.
In a post shared on social media, Toluwanimi said she had noticed doctors typing information on their phones while attending to patients, allegedly using responses from the artificial intelligence tool to guide their consultations.
She expressed concern that patients were paying substantial fees to consult medical professionals, only for some doctors to seemingly rely on AI for answers that patients could obtain themselves.
According to her, she became more convinced of her suspicion after accidentally seeing the interface on a doctor’s phone while he was attempting to do something else. She added that the incident prompted her to question the doctor’s educational background.
Toluwanimi further claimed that the experience was not isolated, alleging that she had observed similar behaviour involving other doctors at the same hospital.
Her post attracted responses from medical professionals, some of whom explained that doctors frequently use electronic devices during consultations to enter patient information into Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems. They argued that seeing a doctor type on a device does not necessarily mean the doctor is using ChatGPT to make a diagnosis.
However, Toluwanimi maintained that the situation she witnessed was different from routine electronic record-keeping. In an edit to her post, she explained that the doctor already had a large screen displaying patient details in front of him but continued looking at and typing on his phone.
The allegation has raised questions about the appropriate use of artificial intelligence in healthcare, including the need for transparency, professional accountability and patients’ confidence in medical consultations.
While AI tools can assist healthcare professionals with information and clinical decision-making, they are not substitutes for proper medical training, patient examination and professional judgement. The woman’s claims have not been independently verified, and there is no evidence from the report establishing that the doctor relied on ChatGPT to make a diagnosis.
