The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) provided a Parliamentary response about leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform public health services, particularly in diagnostics and teleconsultations.
Institutional Framework and Collaboration:
Centers of Excellence (CoEs): MoHFW has designated AIIMS Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh, and AIIMS Rishikesh as Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence to promote the development and use of AI-based solutions in health.
Key Partners: The Ministry collaborates with crucial national organizations, including the Central Tuberculosis Division, ICMR, MeitY, and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and receives technical support from Wadhwani AI.
Impactful AI Solutions Deployed in Healthcare:
Tuberculosis (TB) Screening: The ‘Cough against TB’ (CATB) AI solution enhances pulmonary TB screening in community settings. Since March 2023, it has screened over 1.62 lakh individuals and yielded an additional 12-16% case yield over conventional methods in deployed geographies.
Teleconsultation Quality: The Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) AI has been integrated into eSanjeevani, the national telemedicine platform. It enhances consultation quality by streamlining patient entry and providing AI-based differential diagnosis recommendations. Since its integration in April 2023, 282 million eSanjeevani consultations have benefited from standardized data capture.
Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) Screening: MadhuNetrAI is an AI solution that empowers non-specialist health workers to conduct standardized, accessible, and efficient screening for Diabetic Retinopathy. It is implemented in 38 facilities across 11 states, assisting in the screening of more than 14,000 retinal images and benefiting 7,100 patients.
Policy Relevance
This development is vital as it demonstrates India’s strategy to use AI to overcome the core challenge of specialist shortages and accessibility by pushing complex diagnostics and decision support tools to the periphery (Health Workers/eSanjeevani). The MoHFW maintains strict adherence to legal and ethical frameworks, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 and Ethical Guidelines by ICMR, ensuring that this technological leap is balanced with patient data security and high operational reliability.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: How will the Ministry of Health standardize the validation and procurement process for AI-based diagnostic tools developed by the three Centres of Excellence to ensure their rapid and equitable scaling across all states?
Follow the full news here: Steps taken to include AI-based diagnostic tools in healthcare
