New Delhi [India], February 17 : Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda on Tuesday launched two pioneering digital health initiatives -- SAHI (Secure AI for Health Initiative) and BODH (Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI) -- during the India AI Impact Summit.
The launch marks a significant milestone in advancing safe, ethical, and evidence-based deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India's healthcare ecosystem.
Describing the Summit as both timely and necessary, Nadda said that AI has the "fundamental power" to transform every aspect of our economy, keeping healthcare at the "very heart" of the transformation.
"AI today is no longer a futuristic idea; it has the fundamental power to transform every aspect of our economy. Healthcare is at the very heart of this transformation. AI does not operate in isolation, but thrives on strong digital infrastructure and high-quality data," he said.
Recognising this early, India began laying its digital foundations nearly a decade ago, Nadda said, "In 2015, under the leadership of the Hon'ble Prime Minister, the Government launched the Digital India programme to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy."
The Minister noted that the health sector aligned itself decisively with this national vision. The National Health Policy, 2017, envisaged the creation of a comprehensive digital health ecosystem that would be interoperable, inclusive, and scalable.
"Then in 2020, the Government launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) to establish a robust digital public architecture for healthcare. This was a critical milestone, because the age of AI was approaching, and it became clear that without reliable, high-quality digital health data, artificial intelligence could not be deployed responsibly or at scale. With the sustained efforts, we have built the foundation of digital public infrastructure. We have enabled interoperable health systems. We have begun creating large-scale consent-based health," Nadda said.
Minister referred to the launch of SAHI , the Secure AI for Health Initiative, describing it as not merely a technology strategy but a governance framework, policy compass, and national roadmap for the responsible use of AI in healthcare. He stated that SAHI will guide India in leveraging AI in a manner that is ethical, transparent, accountable, and people-centric.
Nadda also emphasised that SAHI provides a structured framework for collaboration, ensuring that innovation flourishes while public interest remains paramount.
The Minister also underlined the transformative potential of AI in pharmaceuticals and life sciences. AI-driven tools can accelerate drug discovery, shorten research timelines, enhance clinical trial precision, and make research processes more cost-effective, thereby strengthening affordable healthcare delivery.
SAHI has been conceptualized as a comprehensive framework to promote secure, interoperable, and trustworthy AI solutions in the health sector. The initiative will facilitate collaboration among healthcare institutions, technology developers, researchers, and policymakers to ensure that AI tools meet rigorous standards of safety, efficacy, and ethical compliance prior to large-scale adoption, according to a release.
The platform will also serve as a knowledge-sharing and governance hub, promoting best practices in health AI development and implementation, with strong safeguards for patient data protection and algorithmic accountability.
BODH (Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI), developed by the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in collaboration with the National Health Authority, will enable systematic evaluation of AI models using diverse, anonymized real-world health datasets, according to the release.
The platform is designed to assess performance, robustness, bias, and generalizability of AI systems before their deployment at population scale. By institutionalizing benchmarking standards, BODH aims to ensure that AI solutions are reliable, clinically relevant, and aligned with national public health priorities.
The launch of SAHI and BODH at the AI India Summit reflects India's forward-looking vision of integrating digital innovation with public health priorities. These initiatives will foster responsible innovation while reinforcing trust in AI-enabled healthcare solutions.
The event witnessed the participation of senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, representatives from premier academic institutions, healthcare professionals, AI innovators, and industry stakeholders.