The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has intensified efforts to embed artificial intelligence across India’s public healthcare system, naming AIIMS Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh and AIIMS Rishikesh as Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence to accelerate the development and rollout of AI-enabled diagnostic tools.
The ministry said it is working closely with the Central Tuberculosis Division, National Centre for Disease Control, CDAC-Mohali, ICMR, MeitY, IISc and the National Health Systems Resource Centre, with technical support from Wadhwani AI on a range of projects spanning clinical decision support, digital screening and imaging-based disease detection.
Among the key initiatives is MadhuNetrAI, an AI model that allows non-specialist health workers to conduct diabetic retinopathy screenings using retinal fundus images. Deployed across 38 facilities in 11 states, the tool has processed more than 14,000 retinal images and supported care for over 7,100 patients.
The Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS), now integrated into the national telemedicine platform eSanjeevani, aims to enhance the accuracy and quality of remote consultations. Since April 2023, over 282 million consultations have used standardised data capture and AI-driven differential diagnosis suggestions.
Under the national TB elimination programme, the Cough Against TB AI tool has screened more than 1.62 lakh individuals in community settings between March 2023 and November 2025, delivering a 12–16% higher case yield compared to traditional screening.
The ministry stressed that all AI deployments comply with existing regulatory frameworks, including MeitY’s AI governance guidelines, ICMR’s ethical principles for biomedical AI, the IT Act, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, and internal information security protocols.
Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav shared the details in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
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