India to Launch SAHI & BODH for Health AI Ecosystem

The Jagat Prakash Nadda, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, announced the launch of two major national initiatives — SAHI (Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare for India) and BODH (Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI) at the India AI Summit 2026 held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. These initiatives aim to strengthen India’s health sector through responsible and evidence-based adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

SAHI – Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare for India

Purpose: Serves as a national policy and governance framework to guide the ethical, safe, inclusive and evidence-based deployment of AI in healthcare.

Scope: Includes guidelines for data stewardship, validation, deployment, governance and monitoring of AI tools across health systems.

Goal: To help States and healthcare institutions adopt AI in ways that align with public health priorities and strengthen healthcare delivery.

BODH – Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI

Developed by: Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) in collaboration with the National Health Authority.

Function: A privacy-preserving benchmarking platform that evaluates health AI models using diverse real-world data without sharing underlying datasets.

As a Digital Public Good under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, it aims to enhance trust, transparency and quality assurance in AI health solutions.

India AI Summit 2026

The India AI Summit is a key government platform focusing on the potential and impact of Artificial Intelligence for national development, including governance, industry, health, education and agriculture.

It brings together policymakers, technologists, researchers, and industry leaders to discuss AI adoption across sectors.

Role of AI in Healthcare

AI can assist in diagnosis, treatment planning, predictive analytics, drug discovery and personalised medicine. Governments worldwide are investing in AI for improved health outcomes and cost-effective services.

In India, AI integrations support areas like tele-medicine, radiology, genomics, and outbreak prediction. Such frameworks help prevent algorithmic bias and ensure equitable access.

Digital Public Goods

A Digital Public Good is an open-source tool, data set, standard, or digital platform that adheres to privacy, security and interoperability standards and contributes to sustainable development.

Frameworks like BODH align with global efforts (e.g., WHO Digital Health guidelines) to foster responsible AI in public health.

AI Governance and Ethics

SAHI reflects growing government focus on AI governance frameworks that include principles like accountability, transparency, fairness, privacy protection and beneficial AI deployment.

Similar governance structures are part of international initiatives like the OECD AI Principles and UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of AI.