The government is launching a comprehensive AI resources and e-books initiative for medical students, with the first phase covering around 57 medical colleges in smaller towns and rural areas. According to Deputy Director General (Medical Education) B Srinivas, speaking at the AI Impact Summit, students from medical colleges in remote areas face significant challenges in accessing e-books and technical materials, including AI resources. The initiative will leverage AI technology to reach these students through the National Medical Library, which has started securing e-books and digital clinical material for these institutions. The government plans to scale up the initiative in a gradual manner to ensure comprehensive coverage across medical education institutions nationwide. As reported by The Economic Times, the government is in the pipeline to also include private medical colleges later on, though since the budget is coming from the Government, they are currently concentrating only on government institutions. Srinivas noted that "Building campuses and infrastructure is very easy, but building up the knowledge material that takes time".
The healthcare technology sector is witnessing a significant acceleration in AI deployment across India's public healthcare system, as evidenced by Qure.ai's comprehensive report titled 'AI in Action: Transforming Health Outcomes Across India's Care Spectrum'. The report, unveiled at the India AI Impact Summit, documents how AI is being deployed at scale to address key public health challenges such as tuberculosis (TB), lung cancer and acute neurological conditions, drawing on evidence from state-level programmes, large public health initiatives and multi-country clinical studies.
Punya Salila Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, emphasized significant opportunities for AI to transform healthcare delivery during the AI Impact Summit. As reported by PTI, she highlighted that AI-enabled technology has helped the government take healthcare to the most remote areas of the country and noted 'There is a lot of scope by which AI can reduce the burden on the healthcare workforce and, secondly, also make our health service delivery more effective'. The government is working collaboratively through the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, with the National Health Authority, ICMR and Health Ministry jointly implementing AI solutions across various health initiatives. Srivastava emphasized that 'AI has the potential to reduce the burden on the healthcare workforce while strengthening, not replacing, the physician-patient relationship'.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare highlighted significant milestones in India's digital health transformation during the summit. Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava noted that over the past decade, India's health system has transitioned from basic digitisation of records to building a nationally interoperable digital health ecosystem. 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. The 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. With more than 1.80 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs operational across the country, digital platforms are being integrated at the primary care level.
TAKE Solutions announced plans to establish an AI-enabled smart diagnostic and preventive healthcare unit as part of its strategy to build a scalable presence in India's rapidly expanding USD 197 billion preventive healthcare market. According to reports from PTI, the company's 'One Minute Clinic' initiative aligns with its vision to leverage AI, digital health infrastructure, and global technology partnerships to support India's transition from hospital-centric care to community-based preventive healthcare.
The report highlights AI-powered chest X-ray analysis deployed during the Maha Kumbh Mela for rapid TB surveillance, which flagged abnormalities in 36% of X-rays, enabling early identification and triage of presumptive TB cases. Independent Health Technology Assessment evaluations conducted under the Government of India found AI-powered chest X-ray screening for TB to be clinically effective and cost-saving, with approximately ₹10,000 reduction per TB case detected compared to conventional diagnostic pathways. In Maharashtra, AI-enabled incidental screening across public and private facilities contributed to an estimated 35% increase in TB detection, including among asymptomatic individuals.
The India AI Impact Summit 2026, held from February 16-20 at Bharat Mandapam, marks the first global AI event hosted in the Global South and brings together unprecedented international participation with over 20 Heads of State, 60 Ministers, and 500 global AI leaders. As reported by PTI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the inaugural address on February 19, setting the stage for strengthened global collaboration. The summit aims to translate AI innovations into actionable development outcomes aligned with India's strategic initiatives, with evidence signaling a shift towards embedding AI as a foundational layer across screening, surveillance, care coordination and emergency response. The summit features the BODH (Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI) developed by IIT Kanpur in collaboration with the National Health Authority, which will be formally launched by Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, enabling evaluation of AI models on diverse real-world datasets prior to population-scale deployment.
