New Delhi: The second day of the India AI Affect Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam highlighted a significant milestone for the nation’s medical panorama, with deliberations centring on the way forward for AI-driven healthcare innovation.
The session noticed Union Health Minister JP Nadda launch two landmark initiatives, SAHI (Technique for Synthetic Intelligence in Healthcare for India) and BODH (Benchmarking Open Information Platform for Health AI).
The high-level panel included Punya Salila Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Household Welfare (MoHFW); Catharina Boehme, Officer-in-Cost (OIC), WHO South-East Asia Region; and Manindra Agrawal, Director, IIT Kanpur.
Addressing the summit, Catharina Boehme counseled India’s digital health journey, noting that India has set a worldwide benchmark.
“India is the first nation in the South-East Asia region to adopt a complete national AI technique for health, and one of many first international locations globally to have such a technique,” she said.
Boehme highlighted that AI is already influencing health techniques by bettering screening, analysis, and surveillance, whereas accelerating analysis and repair supply.
She additional famous that the brand new framework focuses on shifting from “promise to precise affect” by addressing governance, oversight, knowledge interoperability, safe infrastructure, and workforce readiness.
She emphasised that whereas the technique units out the principles, the “actual work now lies in its implementation.”
Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava detailed the decade-long digital transformation of India’s health system.
She famous that the national digital health blueprint laid the muse by means of open requirements and interoperability, which was additional strengthened by the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDM).
Srivastava highlighted that AI is already being built-in into public health techniques for tuberculosis threat prediction, mapping susceptible spots, diabetic retinopathy screening, and aiding telemedicine consultations.
“At present’s launch of SAHI and BODH marks an necessary step in the development of AI in healthcare,” she mentioned, thanking stakeholders from the National Health Authority (NHA) and the Indian Council of Medical Analysis (ICMR).
SAHI represents a long-term coverage dedication by the federal government, offering a typical framework for union and state governments, public health establishments, and the non-public sector.
It’s designed to information AI analysis, adoption, and integration.
In the meantime, the BODH platform goals to be sure that AI instruments utilized by frontline employees and clinicians are secure, dependable, and efficient, expediting their integration into medical and public health techniques.
Srivastava expressed gratitude to the Union Health Minister for his steerage, stating that his presence signifies the “salience the federal government attaches to the efficient and inclusive use of AI in public health.” (ANI)
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