Scaling AI for Public Health: MoHFW’s Spotlight at India AI Summit

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) hosted a high-level panel on “Scaling AI for Public Health Impact: Public-Private Partnership” at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, underway from February 16-20 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, the first major global AI event in the Global South. Bringing together leaders, policymakers, industry experts, academia, and innovators, the summit emphasizes AI’s role in inclusive development, with MoHFW showcasing its pivotal contributions through discussions, launches, and an expo stall.
In her keynote, Union Health Secretary Smt. Punya Salila Srivastava traced India’s health
evolution from basic digitization to a nationally interoperable ecosystem under the National
Health Policy and National Digital Health Blueprint, prioritizing open standards, interoperability, privacy-by-design, and Generative AI. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) boasts 859 million ABHA accounts linked to 878 million health records, integrated across 1.80 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs. E-Sanjeevani, with AI-assisted Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS), has delivered 449 million teleconsultations via 2.2 lakh providers, the world’s largest primary care telemedicine platform.
Srivastava highlighted AI’s power to interpret data intelligently, easing workforce burdens while enhancing physician-patient bonds. Examples include MadhuNetrAI for diabetic retinopathy screening, AI handheld X-rays, Cough Against TB (CA-TB) acoustic tools, and epidemic surveillance systems, backed by AI Centres of Excellence at AIIMS Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh, and AIIMS Rishikesh. She urged industry-state collaborations on procurement, data frameworks, and field-ready solutions, aligning with PM Modi’s digital public infrastructure for equity and Viksit Bharat@2047.
National Health Authority CEO Dr. Sunil Kumar Barnwal stressed AI’s efficiency in schemes like Ayushman Bharat, aiding beneficiary ID, claims, fraud detection, and monitoring via interoperable platforms with robust governance. The panel delved into predictive analytics, early detection, telemedicine, data management, and real-time surveillance. At Stall No. 1.63-1.64, MoHFW demos include AI-CDSS for multilingual symptom capture and decision-making; BODH (Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI) by IIT Kanpur-NHA for trustworthy model evaluation (launching February 17 by Health Minister Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda); voice-to-text prescription AI; and outbreak surveillance. These underscore MoHFW’s tech pledge for accessible, affordable healthcare.