India positioned as AI healthcare leader as Summit 2026 spotlights transformation potential

India represents remarkable opportunity in AI transformation in health: Royal Philips CEO

Jakobs said globally healthcare systems, including in India are facing unprecedented pressure due to rising demand, growing complexity, stretched workforces and this pressure would have accelerated the adoption of data and AI-driven innovations. A shift has already begun in that direction for creating an intelligent health system, he said in his address. Healthcare is at an inflection point globally with artificial intelligence (AI) set to have its greatest impact in the sector and India represents a "remarkable opportunity" in this transformation, Royal Philips CEO Roy Jakobs said on Tuesday. Acknowledging India's role, Jakobs while speaking at AI Impact Summit 2026, said the country is uniquely positioned to lead this change, armed with its scale, digital infrastructure, and ambition. Royal Philips is a Dutch multinational health technology company. "Initiatives such as Ayushman Bharat, Digital Health Mission are laying the groundwork for interoperable data and continuity of care at population scale. Exactly the kind of foundation AI needs to deliver meaningful impact," he said. Jakobs said globally healthcare systems, including in India are facing unprecedented pressure due to rising demand, growing complexity, stretched workforces and this pressure would have accelerated the adoption of data and AI-driven innovations. A shift has already begun in that direction for creating an intelligent health system, he said in his address. "We are moving towards an integrated AI-enabled healthcare system, where intelligent systems support clinicians and nurses to make faster, better decisions," he said. This opportunity is going to expand further as data scales and AI evolves, Jakobs added. However, he said AI alone cannot transform healthcare, it must be embedded in systems where data workflow and clinical expertise should work seamlessly together. Jakobs also cautioned "Healthcare runs on trust" and stressed for a responsible AI ecosystem, which must operate within evolving regulatory frame works. "Responsible AI is foundational. Human oversight remains central," he said adding "AI therefore must be transparent. It must be validated continuously. It must protect patient data rigorously. It must operate within evolving regulatory frameworks." He suggested that governments and innovation in AI must move together to protect trust and building confidence. "Why is this so crucial? Because if trust erodes, adoption stops," Jakobs said. The Netherlands-based company is one of the leading players in health technology. It has a comprehensive portfolio ranging from patient monitoring solutions, ultrasound machines, MRI systems and solutions to CT solutions. He further said Philips, which has been operating in India for almost 100 years, is not only a market but also a global innovation engine for the company. Philips has two R&D centres in India -- Pune-based Healthcare Innovation Centre (HIC) and an innovation campus in Bengaluru.

Niti Aayog member flags AI as key to healthcare overhaul in India

Artificial Intelligence offers a significant chance to reshape India's healthcare system. It can speed up progress towards universal health coverage. AI integration with digital health infrastructure will improve service delivery and health outcomes. This technology can enhance primary care, aid early diagnosis, and strengthen disease surveillance. Collaboration between government, academia, and industry is crucial for developing effective AI solutions. New Delhi: Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a strategic opportunity to transform India's healthcare landscape and accelerate progress towards universal health coverage, Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, said on Tuesday. Addressing a session during the India AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, Dr Paul noted that given India's scale, diversity and dual burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, technology-driven, evidence-based interventions are essential to strengthen service delivery and improve health outcomes. He said that integrating AI with India's growing digital public health infrastructure will ensure interoperability, real-time analytics and more efficient resource allocation across the health system. "Artificial Intelligence presents a strategic opportunity to transform India's healthcare landscape and accelerate progress towards universal health coverage," he said. Paul highlighted that AI can significantly enhance primary healthcare, enable early diagnosis, strengthen disease surveillance and support data-driven policy formulation. He further underscored the importance of robust regulatory frameworks, ethical safeguards and continuous validation to maintain safety and public trust. Paul called for sustained collaboration between government, academia and industry to develop scalable, affordable and indigenous AI solutions capable of delivering measurable impact at population scale. Speaking at the session, Roy Jakobs, chief executive officer of Royal Philips, said AI will have its greatest impact in the field of healthcare. He observed that health systems across the globe are under immense pressure due to rising demand, workforce shortages and increasing complexity of care, making the integration of AI not just an opportunity but a necessity. He emphasised that AI alone cannot transform healthcare; it must be supported by robust data governance, seamless data handling and strong clinical integration. "Technology must align with clinical needs and workflows," he noted, underlining that meaningful AI deployment requires quality data, interoperability and clearly defined use cases. He further stressed that healthcare runs on trust and, therefore, AI systems must be transparent, explainable and continuously validated to maintain clinical confidence and patient safety. Commending India's digital health initiatives, he noted that programmes such as Ayushman Bharat Yojana are laying the groundwork for interoperable data systems and continuity of care at population scale -- precisely the kind of foundation AI requires to deliver meaningful and sustainable impact. He also remarked that solutions built in India are increasingly being deployed globally, demonstrating that technologies designed for scale, diversity and complexity tend to be resilient and adaptable worldwide. Reaffirming Royal Philips' commitment to collaborative innovation, Jakobs expressed confidence that partnerships between government and industry will accelerate AI-driven transformation and improve health outcomes globally. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)

Union Health Ministry Leads AI in Public Health Dialogue at India AI Impact Summit 2026

The Government of India is hosting the India AI Impact Summit 2026 from 16th to 20th February 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, marking the first-ever global AI summit to be held in the Global South. The Summit brings together global leaders, policymakers, industry experts, academia, and innovators to deliberate on the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across sectors, with a special emphasis on inclusive and sustainable development. As a key participating Ministry, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is playing a significant role in the Summit through a high-level panel discussion, the launch of key initiatives, and the showcasing of AI-driven healthcare solutions at its dedicated exhibition stall. Delivering the keynote address, Union Health Secretary Smt. Punya Salila Srivastava stated that over the past decade, India's health system has transitioned from basic digitisation of records and improved data reporting to building a nationally interoperable digital health ecosystem. She recalled that the National Health Policy set the vision of achieving the highest attainable standard of health and well-being for all citizens, which was further operationalised through the National Digital Health Blueprint by promoting open standards, interoperability, privacy-by-design, and the adoption of emerging technologies including Generative AI. She highlighted that the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) has evolved into a robust digital public infrastructure for health, with over 859 million ABHA accounts linked to more than 878 million health records. With more than 1.80 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs operational across the country, digital platforms are being integrated at the primary care level. E-Sanjeevani, powered by AI-assisted Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS), has enabled over 449 million teleconsultations through more than 2.2 lakh registered healthcare providers, making it the world's largest telemedicine initiative in primary healthcare.

India AI Impact Summit 2026 Day 2: AI-powered healthcare drives speed, scale and affordability

If Day 1 of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 established the architecture of governance and cooperation, Day 2 has turned decisively toward application, and nowhere is that shift more visible than in healthcare. At Bharat Mandapam today, conversations around artificial intelligence are focusing on one of the most urgent public priorities: faster diagnosis, scalable health systems and affordable access. The question is no longer whether AI can assist medicine. It is how quickly it can transform it. Across sessions, the emphasis has been on AI-enabled diagnostic systems capable of analysing medical images, identifying disease markers and supporting clinical decisions in real time. For a country with vast geographic spread and uneven access to specialist care, the implications are significant. AI tools that reduce diagnostic turnaround time could bridge gaps between urban hospitals and rural clinics. Speed, however, is only one part of the equation. Affordability remains central. Day 2 discussions highlight how AI-powered medical devices and decision-support systems can lower operational costs while maintaining accuracy. Automated triage systems, predictive analytics for early disease detection and remote health monitoring platforms are being positioned as force multipliers in public health infrastructure. By integrating these systems into existing digital frameworks, the goal is to expand capacity without proportionally expanding cost. This aligns closely with the summit's broader framing under the Sutras of People, Planet and Progress. Healthcare innovation sits at the intersection of all three: strengthening human capital, improving resilience and contributing to long-term economic productivity. Another emerging theme is the integration of AI into national health architecture rather than standalone pilots. India's digital public infrastructure provides a foundation upon which AI-enabled health services can scale. The conversation has shifted from experimentation in isolated hospitals to systemic deployment across networks. Public health surveillance has also entered the spotlight. AI-driven analytics can identify patterns across datasets, detect outbreaks earlier and optimise resource allocation. For a country of India's scale, such systems could significantly enhance preparedness while reducing response delays. Importantly, governance remains embedded within the healthcare discussion. As AI tools influence medical decision-making, questions of accountability, validation and ethical oversight intensify. Day 2 sessions reflect a clear awareness that trust in health AI depends on transparency, regulatory clarity and rigorous evaluation standards. The international dimension is equally visible. With participation from over 100 countries, healthcare AI is not being framed as a domestic opportunity alone. Emerging economies face similar constraints, limited specialist availability, rising disease burden and resource gaps. Scalable AI health solutions developed in India could carry broader Global South relevance. What distinguishes today's discussions is their practicality. The focus is on deployment models, measurable outcomes and cross-sector collaboration between technologists, clinicians and policymakers. Artificial intelligence is being positioned not as a replacement for medical expertise, but as a clinical accelerator. As the India AI Impact Summit 2026 moves deeper into its five-day agenda, Day 2 reinforces a central message: the impact of AI will ultimately be judged not by model sophistication, but by human outcomes. In healthcare, that outcome is clear, faster diagnosis, wider access and more affordable care. Follow https://ai.economictimes.com/ai-summit for comprehensive coverage.

AI should reduce burden on our health care workforce: MoHFW secretary

The integration of AI into India's healthcare framework is poised to revolutionise service delivery by bridging critical gaps and reducing the burden on the medical workforce. A core objective of the national AI strategy is to support rather than replace human intervention. The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into India's healthcare framework is poised to revolutionise service delivery by bridging critical gaps and reducing the burden on the medical workforce. A core objective of the national AI strategy is to support rather than replace human intervention. Punya Salila Srivastava, IAS and Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, explained that while digital systems capture and store information, AI enables them to interpret and prioritise data more effectively. "One of the key expectations from AI, especially in public health, is that it should reduce the burden on our health care workforce," she stated. Delivering the keynote speech for the panel titled "National AI Strategy for Health" at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, Punya Salila Srivastava, IAS and Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, detailed the nation's transition toward an interoperable digital health ecosystem. She noted that the physician-patient relationship remains central to healthcare delivery, and AI is intended to complement this bond by making the lives of healthcare workers easier, particularly in high-pressure government systems where daily outpatient department (OPD) footfalls can reach 15,000. Srivastava noted that the sector has evolved significantly over the last decade, starting with the digitisation of records and progressing to a national-scale interoperable system under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). "Over the past decade, our entire health system has undergone a steady digital transformation," she said, adding that the National Digital Health Blueprint of 2019 laid the essential principles for this ecosystem. This blueprint promotes open standards and adopts emerging technologies, such as generative AI, to strengthen service delivery and enable early disease detection while ensuring privacy. The Secretary highlighted the massive scale of the ABDM, noting that 859 million citizens now have Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) accounts linked to more than 878 million health records. She emphasised that the system's robustness is tested daily by the country's high patient volumes. India's telemedicine initiative, eSanjeevani, is now among the world's largest in primary healthcare, supported by an AI-assisted clinical decision support system. According to Srivastava, this platform "has facilitated over 449 million consultations through over 2.2 lakh registered healthcare providers." The Secretary also shared successful AI applications currently in use, such as the MadhuNETrAI under the National Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Program. This tool "allows non-specialist health workers to capture retinal images" and has already benefited over 7,000 patients across 38 facilities. In the fight against tuberculosis, AI-enabled handheld X-rays and tools like 'Cough Against TB' are contributing to a decline in disease incidence. Srivastava further mentioned the Media Disease Surveillance (MDS) system, which uses AI to assist the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in detecting health incidents that might otherwise go unreported. Looking ahead, the Secretary noted that the government has established three Centres of Excellence for AI in healthcare at AIIMS Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh, and AIIMS Rishikesh. Srivastava expressed keen interest in hearing feedback from private-sector partners and state governments to inform the evolution of procurement models and data frameworks. She reiterated that these initiatives align with the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047. "Digital public infrastructure is a tool for inclusion and equity," she said, emphasising that the government's commitment to AI is an extension of that core commitment.

India AI Impact Summit 2026: SAHI, BODH and latest in Indian AI healthcare

The India AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam has marked a transition from experimental AI pilots to a unified national framework. While the tech industry often obsesses over general-purpose models, this summit has pivoted the conversation toward "sovereign health intelligence." The centerpieces of this shift are two landmark initiatives: the Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare for India (SAHI) and the Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI (BODH). Together, they represent a structured attempt to move AI from high-end urban hospitals to the bedrock of India's public health infrastructure. Also read: Future of work and AI jobs: What key Indian leaders predict and warn Launched by Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, SAHI and BODH address the two biggest hurdles in medical AI: governance and data validation. SAHI acts as the national "rulebook," providing a guidance framework for the safe and ethical adoption of AI. It moves beyond abstract ethics to provide concrete direction on data stewardship and evidence-based validation. It is designed to ensure that as states and private entities deploy AI, they do so within a standardized, inclusive, and accountable ecosystem. Complementing this is BODH, a platform developed by IIT Kanpur in collaboration with the National Health Authority. BODH is essentially a high-trust "test lab" for medical algorithms. Using a privacy-preserving benchmarking mechanism, it allows developers to evaluate their AI models against diverse, real-world health data without ever accessing the underlying datasets. As a digital public good under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), BODH is the gatekeeper that ensures only high-quality, validated tools reach the public frontline. The summit was not just about policy; it was a showcase of "boots-on-the-ground" technology already impacting rural health. One of the most discussed tools was MadhuNetrAI, an AI-driven screening system for diabetic retinopathy. By automating retinal analysis, it allows non-specialized healthcare workers to identify early signs of vision loss, a critical need given India's massive diabetic population. Similarly, the Cough Against TB (CA-TB) tool highlighted the power of acoustic AI. By analyzing the sound of a cough via a standard smartphone, CA-TB provides a rapid, non-invasive screening method for tuberculosis in remote areas. Also read: India AI Impact Summit: AI agents to empower 10 crore farmers with Rs 15,000 weather stations Other notable innovations included AI-powered Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) integrated into the e-Sanjeevani telemedicine platform. These systems assist doctors with structured, multilingual symptom capture and data-driven diagnostic suggestions. The Ministry also demonstrated a Voice-to-Text AI model that converts spoken clinical notes into digital prescriptions, seamlessly integrating with existing Hospital Management Information Systems (HMIS) to reduce the administrative burden on physicians. The success of these tools rests on the massive scale of India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). With over 859 million ABHA accounts linked to 878 million health records, the ABDM provides the data backbone necessary for AI to scale. This infrastructure is supported by new Centres of Excellence (CoE) at AIIMS Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh, and AIIMS Rishikesh, which are tasked with indigenous research and model development. The message from the summit is clear: India is not looking to replace doctors with algorithms. Instead, the focus is on "augmentation" - using tools like SAHI and BODH to ensure that AI strengthens the physician-patient relationship. By standardizing how models are tested and deployed, India is positioning itself as a global leader in responsible, population-scale healthcare AI.