1 week ago
Minister Urges Human-Centred AI to Expand Healthcare Access
India has many people and some places are difficult to reach with healthcare.
Anupriya Patel said artificial intelligence could help doctors and scientists serve more patients.
AI might find useful patterns in large amounts of medical information.
It could also help researchers discover new medicines.
Patel said India wants to become a leader in creating medicines, not only producing medicines discovered elsewhere.
She said AI should help healthcare workers rather than replace their responsibility.
Patient privacy and safety must be protected.
The government also wants useful AI tools to grow from small tests into national healthcare programs.
Anupriya Patel said AI could help overcome India’s geographic and population-related healthcare access challenges.
She called for AI that improves patient outcomes and reaches underserved and remote communities.
Patel said AI could support drug discovery and help India move beyond generic manufacturing toward innovation-led growth.
She stressed that AI must be safe, privacy-protecting, human-centred, and supportive of—not a replacement for—healthcare professionals.
The IIMA Healthcare Summit 2026 also launched India Pharma Archives and the book “Form labs to jabs.”
- Who
- Anupriya Patel, India’s Union Minister of State for Health and Chemicals and Fertilizers, addressed the summit.
- What
- She discussed human-centred AI for healthcare access, patient care, disease research, drug discovery, and pharmaceutical innovation.
- Where
- Ahmedabad, India.
- When
- At the inaugural IIMA Healthcare Summit 2026, held on a Saturday; the article does not give the specific date.
- Why
- India faces healthcare access gaps linked to its large, diverse population and geographic complexity, while seeking universal health coverage and stronger pharmaceutical innovation.
Key facts
- Event
- IIMA Healthcare Summit 2026
- Theme
- Advancing AI in Healthcare
- Speaker
- Anupriya Patel, Union Minister of State for Health and Chemicals and Fertilizers
- Research scheme
- The PRIP scheme has an outlay of Rs 5,000 crore
- AI priorities
- Healthcare access, patient outcomes, disease research, and drug discovery
- Safeguards
- AI should be safe, responsible, privacy-protecting, and preserve human accountability
- Other launches
- India Pharma Archives and “Form labs to jabs”
Quotes
Anupriya Patel
Union Minister of State for Health and Chemicals and Fertilizers
“What we need for a developed India, is a healthy India. And building a healthy India is not an easy target considering the challenges we have in terms of not just the size of a population but the diversity we have, the geographical complexity, it is not an easy target at all and we have set upon ourselves the goal of achieving universal health coverage”
indianexpress.com
“We firmly believe that any technology should augment our Health Care professionals and support their clinical judgement and it should not replace human accountability.”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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