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1.Introduction
Healthcare in India stands at a critical juncture, marked by stark contrasts between urban and rural medical facilities. Urban areas boast state-of-the-art hospitals equipped with the latest technologies, attracting patients from across the country and even internationally. In contrast, rural healthcare in India paints a different picture, characterised by inadequate infrastructure, a shortage of medical professionals, and limited access to advanced medical care. This disparity not only highlights the uneven distribution of healthcare resources but also underscores the challenges in reaching a significant portion of the Indian population.
Emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) hold immense potential to revolutionise this landscape. AI, with its ability to analyse vast amounts of data, can aid in accurate diagnostics, personalised treatment plans, and efficient management of healthcare services. VR, on the other hand, offers innovative solutions in medical training, allowing healthcare professionals to simulate complex medical procedures and patient interactions without the risks associated with real-life practice.
Moreover, these technologies are not just limited to medical treatment and training. They extend their benefits to patient education, enabling individuals, especially in remote areas, to understand their health conditions and treatment options better. This empowerment is crucial in a country where health literacy is unevenly distributed.
The integration of AI, IOT, VR and Block chain technology in healthcare promises a future where quality medical care is not a privilege confined to urban centres but a widespread reality accessible to the rural population as well.
This white paper aims to delve into how these technologies can be strategically implemented within the next five years to enhance the reach and quality of medical services, reduce the cost of care, and bridge the urban-rural healthcare divide. In doing so, it envisions making healthcare more affordable and accessible for the entire Indian population, thus fulfilling a key aspect of the country's commitment to universal health coverage.
2.Current State of Healthcare in India and a comparison with Global HealthCare Trends:
India's healthcare system, characterised by its vastness and complexity, faces a unique set of challenges. The country's rapid population growth and diverse demographic profiles add layers of complexity to healthcare delivery. While urban areas are often equipped with advanced medical facilities, rural India, where a significant portion of the population resides, grapples with inadequate healthcare infrastructure.
Rural-Urban Divide: The disparity between urban and rural healthcare is stark. Urban centres boast of multi-specialty hospitals with cutting-edge technology and a higher concentration of healthcare professionals. In contrast, rural areas suffer from a lack of basic medical facilities, insufficient healthcare personnel, and limited access to specialised care. This divide results in unequal health outcomes, with rural populations often facing higher morbidity and mortality rates.
Access and Availability: In many rural regions, healthcare facilities are scarce, and the ones that do exist are often poorly equipped and understaffed. The ratio of doctors to patients in these areas is alarmingly low compared to urban regions. This scarcity leads to delayed diagnoses, inadequate treatment, and increased healthcare costs for rural inhabitants who are forced to travel to urban centres for medical attention.
Healthcare Professionals Challenges: The shortage of trained medical professionals in rural areas is a critical issue. Many doctors and healthcare workers prefer to work in urban areas due to better facilities, higher salaries, and more opportunities for professional growth. This migration creates a vacuum in rural healthcare services, which is difficult to fill due to the less attractive working conditions and lower incentives.
Infrastructure and Resources: Rural healthcare infrastructure is often underfunded and under-resourced. Many health centres lack essential medical equipment, adequate patient beds, and basic diagnostic tools. This scarcity leads to a reliance on traditional methods and delayed access to advanced medical care, affecting patient outcomes.
2.1Healthcare Perspectives:
Education and Training:
There is a significant gap in the education and training of medical professionals in rural areas. The lack of exposure to advanced medical technologies and practices hampers the quality of healthcare delivery.
Emergency and Specialist Care:
Access to emergency medical services and specialist care is severely limited in rural regions. Patients often have to travel long distances to access these services, leading to delays in receiving critical care.
Preventive Care Services:
Preventive healthcare, which includes regular health check-ups, vaccinations, and early disease detection, is not widely accessible in rural areas. This lack of preventive care leads to a higher incidence of preventable diseases.
Patient Engagement and Self-Management:
Rural patients often lack awareness and education about managing their health, leading to poor health outcomes. There is a need for greater patient engagement and education to empower individuals to take charge of their health.
Remote Patient Monitoring:
The potential for remote patient monitoring in rural areas is largely untapped due to the lack of infrastructure and digital literacy. This technology could play a crucial role in bridging the healthcare gap.
These challenges underline the need for innovative solutions to overhaul the existing healthcare system, making it more inclusive, efficient, and accessible to all sections of the Indian population.
2.2Current State of Healthcare in India and Global Contrast:
While India grapples with its unique healthcare challenges, a comparison with global healthcare trends offers insights into potential solutions and areas for improvement.
2.3India's Healthcare Challenges:
Rural-Urban Divide:
As previously discussed, the disparity between urban and rural healthcare in India is significant, with rural areas lacking basic healthcare facilities and professionals.
Infrastructure and Resources:
The underfunded rural healthcare infrastructure in India starkly contrasts with the advanced facilities available in urban centres.
Professional Shortage:
The migration of healthcare professionals from rural to urban areas is a significant challenge, leading to an acute shortage of qualified personnel in rural regions.
2.4Global Healthcare Positioning:
Universal Health Coverage:
Many countries are striving towards or have achieved universal health coverage (UHC), ensuring that all individuals have access to quality health services without suffering financial hardship. This is an area where India is still making progress, particularly in rural healthcare.
Technological Integration:
Globally, there is a growing trend of integrating advanced technologies like AI, telemedicine, and IoT in healthcare. Countries with advanced healthcare systems are utilising these technologies to improve access, reduce costs, and enhance patient outcomes.
Decentralised Healthcare:
Some nations have successfully implemented decentralised healthcare systems, ensuring more evenly distributed healthcare resources across urban and rural areas. This approach contrasts with India's centralised healthcare system, where resources are concentrated in urban centres.
Public-Private Partnerships:
Globally, there is an increasing reliance on public-private partnerships to enhance healthcare delivery. Such collaborations have led to innovations and improvements in healthcare services, a model that India is gradually adopting.
2.5Contrasting Factors:
Healthcare Spending:
In comparison to global standards, India's healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP is relatively low. This impacts the overall quality and accessibility of healthcare services.
Digital Healthcare Adoption:
While countries like the USA, UK, and Singapore are rapidly adopting digital healthcare solutions, India is still in the nascent stages of this transition, particularly in rural areas.
Preventive Care and Health Education:
Globally, there is a stronger emphasis on preventive care and health education. In India, these aspects are often overlooked, especially in rural settings, leading to a higher burden of preventable diseases.
India can learn from global healthcare models and trends to address its challenges. The integration of technology, decentralised health care models, increased healthcare spending, and public-private partnerships are areas where India can make significant improvements. By aligning with global healthcare trends, India can bridge the gap in its healthcare system, ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare for all its citizens.
3.Technological Landscape
The global healthcare sector is witnessing an unprecedented technological revolution like application of metaverse in healthcare. This section explores the current state of AI, VR, and Blockchain technology both globally and within India, offering a perspective on how these innovations are reshaping healthcare.
3.1Global Technological Landscape:
AI in Healthcare: Globally, AI is transforming healthcare through advanced diagnostics, personalised treatment plans, and efficient hospital management systems. Countries like the USA, UK, and China are leading in AI integration, with applications ranging from drug discovery to predictive analytics in patient care.
VR Applications: Virtual Reality has found diverse applications in healthcare, particularly in patient therapy, medical training, and surgery simulations. Countries with advanced healthcare systems are using VR to enhance the quality of medical education and patient care.
Blockchain in Healthcare: Blockchain technology is being increasingly adopted for secure and transparent medical data management. Its applications in patient data security, supply chain management, and healthcare transactions are noteworthy, especially in developed nations.
4.Potential of AI in Healthcare
According to research by Accenture, AI might save the Indian healthcare sector $4.4 billion by 2025. AI's impact on healthcare is multifaceted. It enhances diagnostic accuracy, refines predictive analytics, streamlines patient data management, and personalised treatment. AI also plays a vital role in optimising healthcare services, from patient intake to post-care follow-up. The potential for AI to manage epidemic outbreaks and predict healthcare trends is also notable.
Diagnostics:
More than 60 percent of all medical errors are deemed to be diagnostic errors, accounting for 6-17 percent of all adverse events in healthcare. In this light AI plays a critical role. Moorfield hospital in London has found AI-driven software that can sift through 3D scans to pinpoint up to 50 common eye diseases as accurately as the best doctors.
Robot assisted Surgeries:
Most well-funded hospitals use robots for high precision surgeries such as knee replacement, its benefits being lower cost, lower recovery time, bare minimal post surgery pain. Companies such as Medtronics have made great progress in this particular area.
Patient care:
Philips has used AI to integrate information across different clinical domains such as radiology, pathology, EHR systems, and genomics – providing a clear, intuitive view of the patient’s disease state. This can assist multidisciplinary tumour boards in making timely, informed treatment decisions, to give every patient the best chance of a positive treatment outcome.
Operational efficiency:
Narayana Health uses a technology that automates mundane procedures and shortens patient wait times to increase the effectiveness of healthcare delivery.This helps address the issue of manpower shortage in the healthcare sector.
Preventive healthcare:
Columbia Asia hospitals in Bengaluru uses predictive analysis that helps in the early detection of any ailments and aids in treating life-threatening conditions using patient-data.
Medical Imaging:
qure.ai is health-tech Mumbai-based startup that uses AI to interpret radiology scans in a few seconds. In simple terms, Qure.ai makes deep-learning algorithms that can interpret these radiology images.
The above mentioned case studies highlight that AI can be used as a scalable tool to address issues of rural-urban divide, affordability and quality of healthcare, thereby improving overall health outcomes of the country.
5.Potential of VR in Healthcare
Virtual Reality (VR) technology, with its immersive and interactive capabilities, offers a range of innovative applications in healthcare. This section explores how VR can revolutionise medical training, patient treatment, and education, particularly with its potential to reach remote areas in India.
5.1Medical Training and Education:
VR technology provides an immersive environment for medical students and professionals to practise surgeries and medical procedures without the risks associated with real-life operations.
Healthcare startup Machinee has a studio platform for medical training using VR technology. The company aims to develop VR training products for other industries also such as automotive, aerospace, architecture, defence, etc.
It enables simulation-based training, where complex medical scenarios can be recreated, allowing practitioners to gain experience and confidence.
In India, where there's a need for extensive training in rural healthcare settings, VR can bridge the gap by providing high-quality, standardised training remotely.
5.2Surgical Planning and Visualization:
VR is being used globally for pre-operative planning and surgical visualisation. Surgeons can create and interact with 3D models of a patient’s anatomy, leading to more precise and safer surgeries.
ITIE Knowledge Solutions develops medical data acquisition products. Has developed iMediLogger which is an ECG monitoring system. ibioSAQ developed by them monitors ECG, EMG, EEG, and EOG signals in real time. Services provided include signal processing, software development, electromagnetic field analysis, image processing, data acquisition and analysis, and control system design.
In India, this application can significantly improve surgical outcomes, especially in complex cases, and can be pivotal in teaching hospitals and research centres.
5.3Remote Consultations:
VR can facilitate remote consultations, allowing doctors to interact with patients in a more immersive way than traditional telemedicine.
Docty is a global telehealth startup that provides doctor search and appointment services, online consultations, medicine delivery, electronic medical records, remote monitoring, and symptom pre-screening services among others — all under a single platform.
This is particularly relevant for India, where healthcare services in remote areas are limited.
Challenges and Opportunities:
The implementation of VR in India faces challenges, including the need for infrastructure, training of professionals, and affordability. However, the opportunities it presents in enhancing the quality of healthcare, especially in underserved areas, are immense.
VR technology holds tremendous promise in transforming various facets of healthcare. Its potential in medical training, patient care, and education is particularly relevant for India, as it aligns with the need to improve healthcare accessibility and quality, especially in rural and remote areas. Harnessing this technology effectively can place India at the forefront of innovative healthcare solutions.
6.Potential for IOT in Healthcare
The Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare offers extensive potential:
Reduce Lifestyle disease burden:
As per ICMR NCDs account for nearly 6 million deaths annually out of which the major proportion comes from lifestyle diseases. Technological interventions like smart watches, health app, etc.
Affordability and accessibility have emerged as a critical player in fighting this issue. Companies like healthify.me , curefit work towards bringing in lifestyle changes such as more physical exercise, healthy diets, ease in tracking of health metrics such as calories eaten, distance walked etc.
Supply chain Management:
Bagbo is a company whose aim is to eliminate the lack of blood availability in rural India. They created a blood bag monitoring device. It will monitor the temperature of blood bags during storage and transportation. Each blood donation will be recorded on the cloud platform. This B2B company helps to improve communication and logistics issues. Also, it helps reduce wastage at blood collection centres. An RFID (radio frequency identification) card is connected to each bag. The refrigerator that stores the bag and its unique ID will be stored in the cloud. In blood requirement cases, the individual/hospital needs to enter the details in the cloud. Then the blood bag monitoring device shows which bag is suitable for the requirement and in which refrigerator that bag is stored.
Affordability and accessibility:
Companies like forus healthcare which is a medical technology startup with a goal to eliminate avoidable blindness. Over the years, they have developed technology solutions to increase affordability and access to eye care. The first product of the company is 3nethra classic. It is a portable and compact non-mydriatic fundus camera used for taking digital images of the anterior (cornea) and posterior (retina) segments of the eye. Collecting and analysing data from IoT devices helps in personalised patient care. The device will help to identify common eye problems such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, cataract, ARMD, etc. Also, it is integrated with a cloud-based telemedicine platform that enables remote diagnosis.
IoT's integration into healthcare promises improved patient outcomes, operational efficiency, and broader healthcare accessibility.
7.Potential for BlockChain Technology in Healthcare
Blockchain technology in healthcare offers significant potential, including:
Enhanced Data Security: The National Health Policy (NHP) and the Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act (DISHA) of 2018 underline the importance of blockchain as a tool in achieving data security.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras researchers have developed ‘BlockTrack’, a first-of-its-kind blockchain-based secure medical data and information exchange system for a mobile phone-based application. It provides system of permissions natural to blockchain-based distributed ledgers allows editability while maintaining privacy, opening up the possibility to integrate this system across primary healthcare, prescription, pharmacy, distribution and even insurance networks.
Improved Data Privacy and Control: Gives patients greater control over their health data, allowing selective sharing with healthcare providers. Mykaizen is a provider of decentralised web-application for storing and sharing personal health records. It is Web3.0 HealthTech framework on Blockchain which facilitates Health Records on Blockchain.
Clinical Trials and Research: Enhances the integrity and transparency of clinical trial data, improving research quality.
Shivom is a provider of blockchain-based genomics and data discovery platform. The company is building a genomic and health data hub by combining blockchain, genomic DNA sequencing, artificial intelligence, and cryptography. Will allow people to store their genome after sequencing, and the resulting marketplace will enable the app and service providers to offer customised services.
These case studies and pilot programs provide valuable insights into the practical applications of AI, VR, Blockchain, and IoT in healthcare. They serve as blueprints for how these technologies can be adopted in the Indian healthcare system to address existing challenges and improve healthcare accessibility and quality.
8.Implementation Challenges
Expanding on the implementation challenges of AI, IOT, VR and Block chain technology in India's healthcare system, there are several key areas to consider:
Regulatory and Privacy Challenges: One of the significant hurdles is the regulatory landscape, which is still evolving in India. The absence of robust regulation, particularly in the private sector, raises concerns around data security and privacy. This makes it challenging to develop and implement AI algorithms that require large and diverse datasets.
Data Complexity and Interoperability: The complexity and variability of healthcare data present another challenge. AI requires extensive datasets to operate effectively, and thus, ensuring interoperability among different systems to share data is crucial. However, this needs to be balanced with stringent data security and privacy measures.
Infrastructure and Resource Allocation: The disparity in healthcare infrastructure between urban and rural areas is a significant barrier. While urban centres may have the capacity to adopt AI, IOT, VR and Block chain technology technologies, rural areas often lack the necessary infrastructure. Moreover, government spending on healthcare is relatively low, and most Indians rely on private health facilities, which are often unregulated and vary in quality.
Doctor-Patient Ratio and Skilled Resources: India faces an acute shortage of qualified medical professionals, especially in rural areas. AI has the potential to mitigate this by enhancing the training and efficiency of existing medical staff and providing remote diagnostics and personalised healthcare. However, this requires substantial investment in AI technologies and training programs.
Adoption and Trust in Technology: There's also the challenge of ensuring that both healthcare providers and patients trust and adopt these new technologies. This includes understanding and confidence in AI-powered recommendations, which can be complex and sometimes difficult to interpret.
National Digital Health Infrastructure: The government's efforts to create a national digital health infrastructure, including the Healthlocker and a unique digital health ID for each citizen, aim to address some of these challenges. However, the implementation of such large-scale projects is complex and requires significant coordination and investment.
Addressing these challenges is crucial for the successful implementation of AI, IOT, VR and Block chain technology in India's healthcare system. While the potential benefits are significant, careful consideration of these barriers and strategic planning is essential to realise these technologies' full potential.
Expanding on the implementation challenges of AI, IOT, VR and Block chain technology in India's healthcare system, there are several key areas to consider:
Data Privacy and Security:
Challenge: Healthcare data is sensitive and highly regulated. Implementing AI requires access to vast amounts of patient data, raising concerns about privacy and security.
Interoperability:
Challenge: Healthcare systems often use different standards and formats for data. Integrating AI and VR technologies may face challenges in interoperability with existing healthcare IT systems.
Regulatory Compliance:
Challenge: The healthcare sector is heavily regulated, and implementing AI and VR technologies requires compliance with strict regulations, including those related to medical device approval.
Ethical Concerns:
Challenge: AI algorithms in healthcare may raise ethical concerns, such as bias in algorithms, lack of transparency, and potential misuse of patient data.
Lack of Standardization:
Challenge: The lack of standardised protocols for AI and VR applications in healthcare can lead to fragmentation and hinder interoperability.
User Acceptance and training:
Challenge: Healthcare professionals may be resistant to adopting new technologies, and there may be a need for comprehensive training programs to ensure proper use.
Addressing these challenges is crucial for the successful implementation of AI, IOT, VR and Block chain technology in India's healthcare system. While the potential benefits are significant, careful consideration of these barriers and strategic planning is essential to realise these technologies' full potential.
10.Strategic Roadmap
To create a strategic roadmap for the implementation of AI, VR, IoT, and blockchain in Indian healthcare over the next five years, consider the following steps:
Year 1-2: Foundation and Planning
Stakeholder Engagement: Initiate dialogues with healthcare providers, technology experts, policymakers, and patients to understand needs and challenges.
Policy Advocacy: Work with government bodies to advocate for supportive policies and regulations for technology integration in healthcare.
Infrastructure Assessment: Evaluate the current healthcare infrastructure to identify gaps and opportunities for technology integration.
Year 2-3: Development and Pilot Testing
Infrastructure Development: Start the development of necessary infrastructure, including broadband connectivity, healthcare data platforms, and training facilities for healthcare professionals.
Pilot Project: Implement pilot projects in select urban and rural areas to test the feasibility and impact of AI, VR, IoT, and blockchain technologies.
Year 3-4: Expansion and Integration
Expand Pilot Projects: Based on the success of the pilot projects, expand the scope to more areas, focusing on accessibility in rural regions.
Integration of Technologies: Ensure seamless integration of AI, VR, IoT, and blockchain into existing healthcare systems.
Year 4-5: Evaluation and Scaling
Impact Evaluation: Assess the impact of these technologies on healthcare affordability, accessibility, and quality.
Scaling: Based on evaluation results, scale successful technologies nationwide.
Public-Private Partnerships: Strengthen partnerships between government, technology providers, and healthcare institutions to sustain and expand technology integration.
Throughout these five years, continuous monitoring, feedback collection, and policy adjustment are crucial to ensure the effective and sustainable integration of these technologies in healthcare.
11.Impact Assessment
To measure the impact of AI, VR, IoT, and blockchain on healthcare affordability and accessibility, the following metrics can be defined:
Cost Reduction Metrics: Assess changes in the cost of healthcare services pre and post-technology implementation. This includes patient bills, operational costs for healthcare providers, and expenses related to healthcare access.
Accessibility Metrics: Evaluate the increase in healthcare access, particularly in remote or underserved areas. Metrics can include the number of patients served, the geographical reach of services, and the usage rates of telemedicine and remote diagnostics.
Patient Outcome Metrics: Track improvements in patient outcomes, such as reduced hospital readmission rates, quicker recovery times, and overall patient health improvements.
Data Security Metrics: For blockchain, assess the reduction in data breaches and unauthorised access incidents.
Patient Satisfaction Metrics: Use surveys and feedback tools to gauge patient satisfaction, focusing on ease of access, affordability, and overall experience.
Framework for Monitoring and Evaluation:
Regular Data Collection: Establish a routine for collecting relevant data across these metrics.
Performance Benchmarking: Set benchmarks based on pre-implementation data or industry standards.
Continuous Analysis: Regularly analyse collected data to assess performance against benchmarks.
Stakeholder Feedback: Incorporate feedback from patients, healthcare providers, and technology teams.
Adjustment and Adaptation: Use insights from analysis and feedback to make adjustments to the implementation strategy.
This framework ensures ongoing evaluation and adjustment, maximising the positive impact of these technologies on healthcare.
12.Policy Recommendations and Conclusion
For policymakers, the recommendations to facilitate the integration of AI, VR, IoT, and blockchain in healthcare include:
Developing Clear Regulatory Frameworks: Establish specific guidelines and standards for the use of these technologies in healthcare to ensure safety, efficacy, and privacy.
Funding and Incentives: Provide financial support for research and development in these areas. Tax incentives, grants, and subsidies can encourage innovation and investment.
Promoting Public-Private Partnerships: Encourage collaborations between government bodies, healthcare institutions, and technology companies to share knowledge, resources, and risks.
Building Infrastructure: Invest in the necessary digital infrastructure, such as high-speed internet and data centres, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
Fostering Education and Training: Implement educational programs to train healthcare professionals in the latest technologies, ensuring they can effectively utilise AI, VR, IoT, and blockchain in their practices.
Encouraging Data Sharing: Facilitate secure and standardised data sharing between different healthcare entities to leverage the benefits of AI and blockchain effectively.
Monitoring and Evaluation: Establish mechanisms for continuous monitoring and evaluation of technology implementations to measure impact and guide future policy decisions.
To encourage innovation and investment in AI, VR, IoT, and blockchain in healthcare, incentives could include:
Tax Benefits: Offering tax credits or deductions for companies investing in research and development in these technologies.
Subsidies and Grants: Providing financial support for startups and established companies developing innovative healthcare solutions using these technologies.
Public-Private Partnership Opportunities: Creating opportunities for private companies to collaborate with public healthcare institutions, facilitating access to resources and expertise.
Investment in Education and Training: Funding education programs in universities and institutions to develop a skilled workforce in these technologies.
Favourable Regulatory Environment: Implementing policies that support the testing and use of these technologies in healthcare settings.
Research Collaboration Incentives: Encouraging collaborative research projects between academia, industry, and healthcare institutions.
These incentives can accelerate the development and implementation of advanced technologies in healthcare, ultimately benefiting the entire healthcare ecosystem.
In India, significant strides have been made in integrating technologies like AI, VR, IoT, and blockchain into healthcare. These include:
National Digital Health Mission (NDHM): To create a comprehensive digital health infrastructure.
AI in Ayushman Bharat: Integrating AI for predictive healthcare analytics.
Collaborations with Tech Giants: Partnerships with companies like Google and Microsoft for AI-driven healthcare solutions.
AI and IoT Research and Development: Investments in research for AI applications in diagnostics and patient care.
These initiatives highlight India's commitment to leveraging advanced technologies to enhance its healthcare services.
Standard Practices and Ethical Guidelines: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has emphasised the need for standard practices to make AI-based solutions technically sound and ethically justified. It's important for all stakeholders to adhere to these guiding principles, ensuring that technology is useful and acceptable to users and beneficiaries. This approach aims to bridge the digital divide and ensure equity and fairness in AI applications in healthcare.
Transparency and Inclusion Frameworks: Policies should focus on transparency and inclusion. The Indian Data Management Office under MeitY and the Digital India Corporation are working towards developing the India datasets platform, setting up request-based access to datasets, and promoting private sector participation. These efforts contribute to making AI more transparent and inclusive, an essential aspect of healthcare applications.
Risk Management in AI: The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) proposes draft Indian Standards equivalent to ISO Standards for AI, focusing on risk management. Implementing these interoperable frameworks alongside legal and regulatory frameworks will allow policies to be built based on technology architecture for AI, ensuring safer deployment and use.
AI in Telecommunication and Healthcare: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended establishing a common regulatory framework covering AI across all sectors. This includes an independent statutory body and a multistakeholder advisory body for AI governance guidelines and ethical codes, especially for lower-risk usages.
National AI Ecosystem Development: MeitY's IndiaAI initiative, a national program on AI, aims to cover all AI-related research and innovations. This multi stakeholder approach involves government, academia, corporates, and startups, and is responsible for creating a roadmap for AI development and functioning in India.
Data Embassy Policy and Cybersecurity: The Data Embassy Policy allows countries and corporations to set up “data embassies” within India, offering diplomatic immunity from local regulations for national and commercial digital data. Additionally, the National Cybersecurity Reference Framework provides structured cybersecurity guidance to critical sectors, including healthcare.
Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI): India's participation in GPAI, an international initiative, is crucial for steering the responsible development and utilisation of AI. This partnership emphasises principles like human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, and economic growth.
These policy recommendations and initiatives are essential for the responsible and effective integration of AI, IOT, VR and Block chain technology technologies in the healthcare sector, ensuring they are used ethically, transparently, and inclusively for the benefit of all stakeholder.
Meet The Thought Leader
Akshar is a mentor at GGI. After his studies at IIT Delhi Akshar went onto ork at EY-Parthenon and later started his own Web-3 venture. Akshar is a boxing enthusiast and is a director at Indian Boxing Council.
Meet The Authors (GGI Fellows)
Pranali Ved is an incoming MBA candidate at IIM Bangalore (EPGP Co’ 25) and an alumnus of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. She has been a consultant with PwC, Deloitte and Olam group. She also worked in the corporate strategy domain at a new-age smart health-tech startup. She is extremely passionate about mentoring students.
Dr. Tanvee Kulkarni pursued MBBS and MD in Pathology from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. She works in cancer pathology and medical diagnostics and consults at Jeevan Laboratory, Kolhapur. Previously, she directed Digital Pathology at Morphle Labs. Inc, Bangalore.
She is also a founder of the Raj Patel Foundation, an organisation aimed at leveraging research and innovation in healthcare. Her interests lie in integrating AI and technology to enhance healthcare outcomes.
Sansoz Sozhan is a management consultant, venture advisor and an angel investor. He pursued MIB from Grenoble Ecole de Management and MBA from the Asper School of Business.
Ghanshyam Sehgal is a computer science graduate from VIT Vellore. He has 3+ years’ experience in the automotive industry.
If you are interested in applying to GGI's Impact Fellowship program, you can access our application link here.
References
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