New Delhi: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is actively leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform public health services across India, as recently informed in the Rajya Sabha. To institutionalize AI innovation in healthcare, the Ministry has designated three premier institutions as Centers of Excellence (CoE) for Artificial Intelligence: AIIMS Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh, and AIIMS Rishikesh. These Centres of Excellence serve as hubs for developing and implementing AI-based solutions across various public health domains. Their primary objective is to promote the research, development, and deployment of AI technologies that can enhance healthcare outcomes for the population.Also Read:AI can revolutionise healthcare where specialists are lacking, says Soumya SwaminathanUnder this initiative, the Ministry has collaborated with several key organizations, including the Central Tuberculosis Division, National Centre for Disease Control, CDAC-Mohali, ICMR, MeitY, Ministry of Higher Education. Additionally, partnerships with private entities such as Wadhwani AI provide technical expertise to support the three CoEs and other governmental institutionsDuring a recent Rajya Sabha session, Member of Parliament Smt. Darshana Singh asked whether the Government has launched any scheme or program for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in public health under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative to enhance the impact of AI on public health;
She also asked if so, the key objectives, financial provisions, and the framework for the PPP model;
She seeks to know the manner in which the said initiative is expected to improve access, quality, and human resource management of healthcare services; and
Furthermore, she asked whether there is any proposal to expand this model to States and health institutions?
Responding to the questions, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Prataprao Jadhav, highlighted that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to drive transformative change in public health services across India. The Ministry of Health has designated AIIMS Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh, and AIIMS Rishikesh as ‘Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Artificial Intelligence’. The key objective of the AI initiative of the ‘Center of Excellence’ is to promote the development and use of AI-based solutions in Health.
The Ministry has collaborated with key organizations such as the Central Tuberculosis Division, National Centre for Disease Control, CDAC-Mohali, ICMR, MeitY, Ministry of Higher Education, and others for a variety of AI projects. Further, the Ministry has collaborated with Wadhwani AI to provide technical support to the three CoEs and other governmental institutions.Also Read:AI in medical education: 42,000 doctors register for NBE training, MoS Health backs AI adoptionSeveral AI solutions have been developed, including the Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) in e-Sanjeevani, Media Disease Surveillance under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP), a Diabetic Retinopathy (DR identification solution, and AI solutions, ‘Cough Against Tuberculosis’ (CATB) for TB Screening, among others. Some of these AI institutions are operational in collaboration with central and state health institutions, the Minister added.
