AI to Ease Healthcare Burden, Not Replace Doctors: Health Secretary

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.

- ANI