Introduction The revolution of healthcare delivery in India is leveraging AI-powered diagnostics, telemedicine, and surveillance tools across both public and private sectors. By integrating these frontier technologies, the Government of India is fulfilling its commitment to Universal Health Coverage—effectively bridging delivery gaps, elevating the standard of medical services and products, and ensuring affordable care for every citizen. Guided by the vision of 'Welfare for All, Happiness for All' (Sarvajana Hitaya, Sarvajana Sukhaya), the Union Cabinet launched the IndiaAI mission in March 2024 to advance inclusive development, strengthen governance, and improve public service delivery—including healthcare. The mission embodies two core principles: Democratisation of technology, ensuring AI tools reach all segments of society including rural and underserved populations Technology for humanity, deploying AI not merely for technological advancement but to address critical societal challenges, improve quality of life, and advance the public good. This comprehensive approach aims to transform healthcare delivery as part of India's journey toward Viksit Bharat by 2047. The Union Government recognised AI’s transformative potential in healthcare delivery years ago. In 2018, the Niti Aayog published the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, which envisions AI, robotics and the Internet of Medical Things as the “new nervous system for healthcare”, among its myriad applications across various sectors. AI-powered tools, adopted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s various national programmes, are democratising healthcare expertise across India. For example, these tools enable frontline workers to screen for TB and diabetic retinopathy while supporting 282 million telemedicine consultations nationwide. Together, these efforts have delivered measurable impact, including a 27% reduction in adverse TB outcomes and 12–16% increase in case detection. India-AI Impact Summit 2026 India will host the Global South's first international AI summit in New Delhi from 16 to 20 February, bringing together global leaders, policymakers, technology firms, innovators, and experts. The summit will cover AI-centred policy, research, industry, and public engagement. AI in Healthcare Delivery AI has enabled better delivery of various public health initiatives by leveraging technology for public health impact. It demonstrates how technology-driven solutions can address persistent developmental challenges and promote inclusive and holistic social development. This reflects the spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat. From 2022 to 2025, India has fundamentally restructured its public health delivery by integrating AI into a unified strategy, that bridges specialist shortages and scales proactive care. By deploying AI-enabled tools within the National TB Elimination Programme, the National Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Programme, and the Media Disease Surveillance System, the government has empowered non-specialists to perform high-level screenings, resulting in a 27% decline in adverse TB outcomes and over 4,500 outbreak alerts. This transformation is further solidified through the e-Sanjeevani, which has supported 282 million consultations with AI-assisted differential diagnosis, and the UdyogYantra AI System for malnutrition monitoring. This has created a comprehensive ecosystem that spans from infectious disease management and cancer care to the modernisation of traditional Ayurvedic medicine and the National One Health Programme. AI-enabled initiatives by the Government of India (2022-2025) to improve public health delivery are: The government has established a foundational layer to ensure these tools are safe and standardised: Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence: Designated in March 2025, AIIMS Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh, and AIIMS Rishikesh lead the development of indigenous AI solutions. In addition, NHA has also inked an MoU with TANUH, Ministry of Education’s CoE in Healthcare at IISc Bengaluru to lead AI related developments in healthcare. National Federated Learning Platform: An MoU signed on October 14, 2024 between the National Health Authority (NHA) and IIT Kanpur to create an open benchmarking platform for validating AI health models using data from the ecosystem partners under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. Ethical Oversight: All AI deployment follows the ICMR Ethical Guidelines (2023) and MeitY AI Governance Guidelines to ensure privacy-by-design and secure data exchange. Strategy for AI in Healthcare for India (SAHI): MoHFW is working on a health sector specific AI strategy. This strategy has been prepared after consultation with various public and private stakeholders. An Indian Administrative Service official was overseeing the Integrated Tribal Development Programme in Maharashtra's Etapalli district. He noticed clear signs of undernourishment in students despite government-funded meals. An audit of the Todsa Ashram School revealed that 27% of its students were malnourished. Gupta's solution was to modify the food fed to the children. An AI-enabled machine to evaluate food served against government-prescribed menus was introduced. It was equipped with advanced image recognition to analyse over 2,100 data points, including temperature and appearance. After the machine was deployed, the analysis revealed that many meals did not match prescribed menus. The analysis showed that students often missed out on items like fruits or protein-rich components. Nutritional deficiencies were also exacerbated by inadequate preparation, overcooked vegetables, and spoiled ingredients. This AI-enabled machine helped the authorities enforce stricter compliance protocols and vendor accountability. It led to visible improvements in the children's nutrition. This successful model was replicated across multiple schools in the district. Regional Open Digital Health Summit 2025 The Regional Open Digital Health Summit 2025 was held in New Delhi on November 19-20. The summit was organised by the National Health Authority (NHA), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, in collaboration with the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO), and UNICEF. The summit convened policymakers, technologists, public health leaders, and global experts from across the WHO South-East Asia Region (SEAR). The discussions highlighted India’s journey in strengthening its digital health architecture through robust governance, open standards, and emerging technologies. The use of GenAI in healthcare, including AI-enabled surveillance and diagnosis, faster disease identification, early outbreak prediction, and support for frontline workers, was a key focus, alongside the integration of AI across other health programmes. The summit also saw representatives from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Timor-Leste; and senior officials from WHO-SEARO, UNICEF, and digital health leaders from SEAR Member States. IndiaAI Mission’s Healthcare Initiatives In March 2024, the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the comprehensive national-level IndiaAI mission with a budget outlay of Rs 10,371.92 crorefor promoting India’s socio-economic development using AI. The IndiaAI Mission initiatives are supporting innovation in AI-enabled healthcare applications. One of the pillars of the mission is the IndiaAI Application Development Initiative. This scheme aims to develop, scale, and promote the adoption of impactful AI solutions designed to tackle significant national challenges. Advanced and efficient AI-enabled healthcare delivery is one of the many outcomes of this initiative. As on March 2025, healthcare-related AI solutions shortlisted under the IndiaAI Application Development Initiative are as follows: Private sector contributions to AI-assisted healthcare delivery The Government’s main public policy think tank, Niti Aayog, has recognised significant innovative contributions by the private sector. Some of these AI-driven initiatives are as follows: India’s AI healthcare transformation has also been made possible due to the existing digital infrastructure in place – the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). There are 799 million digital health IDs already in place (as of August 2025). Over 410,000 registered healthcare facilities and over 670,000 healthcare professionals are registered on the digital repositories. And over 671 million health records have been linked with Ayushman Bharat Health Account. Under the ABDM, the private sector is being encouraged to use innovative methods to transform healthcare delivery. Some of these AI-driven initiatives by ABDM-enabled applications developed by the private sector are as follows: Conclusion From diagnosing various diseases and improving the health outcomes of marginalised communities to enabling access to clean water, the innovative use of AI in healthcare reflects the principle of AI for Humanity: leveraging technology to address critical human challenges, promote inclusive socio-economic development, and advance the vision of a Viksit Bharat@2047. For more details, visit https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2227410®=3&lang=1 Source: PIB