China is accelerating the use of AI in healthcare, with digital doctor avatars and smart tools expanding access as part of a state-backed push to modernise its overstretched...
Rosmah fails final bid to remove judge or get retrial, appellate court to hear solar bribery appeal over 10-year jail, RM970m fineYan Sulian helps a patient with electronic registration at a community health centre in Shanghai on February 11, 2026.
— AFP picand enjoy FREE RM10 & when you sign up using code VERSAMM10 with min. cash of RM100 today! T&Cs apply.China is accelerating the use of AI in healthcare, with digital doctor avatars and smart tools expanding access as part of a state-backed push to modernise its overstretched medical system. Apps like AQ, backed by tech giant Ant Group, now host thousands of expert “digital doubles”, offering medical advice to millions and easing pressure on crowded hospitals. Experts and senior doctors welcome the efficiency gains but warn that AI can make mistakes and must not replace human judgement in clinical decisions. SHANGHAI, March 4 — Throughout her first pregnancy, Wang Yifan had lots of questions, which she usually put to renowned obstetrician Duan Tao – or rather, an AI clone of the top Shanghai-based doctor. Duan has created a digital double for healthcare app AQ, which now boasts more than 100 million users in a display of how high-tech parts of China’s medical sector have become. A state-driven digitisation, aiming to inject efficiency into the overstretched healthcare system, has been underway for over a decade. But with rapid developments in AI and robotics, the government, companies and practitioners see an opportunity to turbocharge that transition. “Three to five years at most, and our entire medical model will be radically transformed,” the soft-spoken Duan told AFP. To train his avatar, Duan selected material, including textbooks, clinical case studies and content from his social platforms – followed by more than 10 million – to capture his tone. The chatbot cannot prescribe medication, and AQ’s maker, tech giant Ant Group, says it is not a substitute for treatment.But he believes in “actively embracing” technology to help improve it. Doctor Duan Tao shows his AI avatar on the healthcare app AQ at his office at a hospital in Shanghai on February 11, 2026. — AFP picBeijing is soon expected to release its 15th Five-Year Plan, a blueprint for the world’s second-largest economy until 2030 with technological transformation at its heart. An October framework called for scientific breakthroughs to “enter practical application quickly”, and referenced intelligent healthcare solutions.The app “gives any ordinary user – no matter where they are – the opportunity to get good answers to their questions,” Duan said.That’s especially appealing in China, where “waiting all morning for a three-minute appointment” is common, he said.During Wang’s pregnancy, digital Duan was a trusted mediator when she and her husband disagreed, for example on using cooking wine in food. Since giving birth, she has used AQ even more, asking paediatrician avatars about rashes or for general care advice. While the app can’t replace doctors, “it can reduce the number of questions we need to ask doctors directly”, Wang told AFP as her baby dozed in her Shanghai apartment.Wang Yifan and her husband check their phones at their home in Shanghai on February 9, 2026. — AFP picChina’s vast population and territory have always posed challenges to consistent, evenly distributed healthcare – and as its citizens age, stress on the system is increasing. The challenges are similar to other countries’, but are happening “at a greater scale and a greater pace”, said Ruby Wang, a writer and director of LINTRIS Health consultancy. “China’s health technology landscape is maturing so quickly, partly because... urgency drives change,” she said.Chatbot DeepSeek is already used in hundreds of Chinese hospitals, according to one study, and Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University runs a hospital it says is designed to use AI in almost all its processes.In a top Shanghai hospital, a specialised AI model called CardioMind supports cardiology diagnoses, while a tool called PANDA is being deployed, including in remote towns, to flag early stage pancreatic cancer. Robotics companies tout their healthcare potential, with firms like Fourier already supplying rural rehab centres with devices like mechanical arms for physiotherapy.This year’s televised Spring Festival Gala, a state broadcaster-run New Year ritual, featured a sketch that referenced AQ, and one starring humanoid robots caring for a neglected grandmother.At a busy health centre in Shanghai, Yan Sulian, an energetic 65-year-old volunteer, helped older patients with electronic registration. “Many elderly people just can’t keep up with the smartphone era, so we volunteer to teach them how to adapt,” she told AFP.Life is already highly digitised in China, which explains the broad uptake of high-tech healthcare, said LINTRIS’ Wang, with data and privacy not often cited as a concern.Studies suggest while AI chatbots can match human doctors in exam conditions, they are less effective in messier, real-life conversations.“Humans must retain the ultimate decision-making and choice.” But infectious disease expert Zhang Wenhong, a top doctor in China’s Covid-19 fight, has voiced concerns that if AI becomes default, “without systematic training, doctors will lose the ability to judge whether AI’s conclusions are correct”.“Doctors as a group are very conservative,” Duan said.
Digital Doctor Avatars Ant Group Healthcare App AQ AI Medical Projects Robotics Physiotherapy
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