Schneider Electric has called for stronger and more resilient infrastructure to support the growing adoption of artificial intelligence in healthcare, warning that unreliable power systems and inadequate data infrastructure could limit the sector’s ability to fully benefit from emerging technologies.
The call was made by the Vice President for Secure Power, SSA, at Schneider Electric, Steven Santini, who said AI-powered healthcare solutions are already transforming medical diagnostics, patient monitoring and hospital administration globally.
According to Santini, AI platforms are improving the speed and accuracy of healthcare delivery, citing a recent report by the World Economic Forum which found that AI software was twice as accurate as professionals in examining brain scans of stroke patients.
He noted that AI systems are also helping healthcare workers reduce administrative burdens through tools capable of generating clinical notes and supporting faster diagnosis and testing processes.
However, Santini stated that the effectiveness of AI in healthcare would depend largely on the quality of the infrastructure supporting it, particularly power reliability, cooling systems and data centre design.
“The future of AI healthcare lies in a solid infrastructure backbone,” said Santini, who explained that healthcare providers are increasingly adopting localised AI systems and edge computing to support applications such as diagnostic imaging and real-time patient monitoring, which require immediate processing and minimal latency.
According to him, the trend is particularly relevant in Africa, where inconsistent network connectivity can make dependence on centralised cloud systems difficult.
“Localised compute enables healthcare facilities to maintain control over critical operations, ensuring faster turnaround times and greater resilience in the face of connectivity or power disruptions,” he stated.
He further stressed that uninterrupted power supply remains essential for AI-driven healthcare infrastructure, noting that even brief outages could disrupt diagnostics, delay treatments and affect critical medical workflows.
Santini said hospitals and healthcare providers are therefore exploring localised data centres and edge deployments that offer greater operational control, including the use of backup power systems, redundancy measures and real-time monitoring capabilities.
The executive also highlighted the growing importance of cooling systems in AI infrastructure, explaining that high-performance computing generates significant heat that must be managed effectively to ensure system reliability and long-term performance.
He said healthcare providers are increasingly adopting a mix of air cooling, hybrid cooling systems and high-density cooling solutions depending on the complexity of workloads being handled.
According to Santini, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to AI infrastructure deployment in healthcare, as facilities operate under different conditions shaped by legacy systems, physical limitations and local infrastructure challenges.
He noted that interest in prefabricated modular data centres is growing across parts of Africa because they offer scalable and customisable alternatives to conventional infrastructure projects.
Santini added that modular systems could help healthcare institutions deploy AI infrastructure faster while balancing local edge computing with cloud-based services.
He urged healthcare providers to align infrastructure investments with clinical objectives to unlock the full potential of AI in transforming healthcare delivery.
