AYUSH Ministry to ensure benchmarking of Artificial Intelligence in traditional medicine: Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha

Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush in his inaugural address at the side event emphasized on an integrative holistic healthcare model of service delivery through comprehensive IT backbone for Traditional Medicine “Ayush Grid” and by ensuring the benchmarking of AI in Traditional Medicine with the guidance and support of UN bodies.

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Vaidya Kotecha further said that there is need to advocate the use of digital tools for not only the efficiency and outcome of the healthcare system but also to maintain the medical records, exchange information and extrapolate the effectiveness of various modalities of healthcare including; but not limited to pharmaco-therapeutic interventions, traditional medicine based approaches and other innovations.

He said that the upcoming WHO - Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India has one of the mandates to work on data analytics and technology in Traditional medicine. This will suffice the infusion of data and technology in TM in the coming future.

The secretary also participated in the panel discussion on creation of Digital Health Ecosystem: Moving towards harmonised & efficient health-data governance frameworks. He spoke about the crucial aspect of digital health which is ever increasing and ubiquitous use of artificial intelligence in health care including traditional medicine.

Shri Kotecha said there is a need to catch up with the development of benchmarks, guidelines and policies for safe, effective use of the same in health care. To ensure the benchmarking of AI in traditional medicine and the guidance and support of UN bodies - World Health Organization and International Telecommunication Union, Ministry of Ayush is leading a topic group on traditional medicine as part of Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health (FG-AI4H).

Ministry of Ayush based on National Health Policy 2017- which envisaged the integral role of technology (eHealth, mHealth, Cloud, Internet of things, wearables, etc), has envisioned Ayush Grid, which is aligned with the principles of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

It is a comprehensive IT backbone for the traditional medicine sector in India and created with a vision to transform the Ayush sector to provide efficient, holistic, affordable, and quality services to all, through a secure and interoperable digital ecosystem. Ayush grid operates at four levels viz., Core layer, National Layer, State Layer and Citizen access ensuring seamless digital connectedness between all stakeholders.

The 2nd Health Working Group meeting under G20 India Presidency is currently underway in Panaji, Goa from 17th – 19th April 2023. More than 180 delegates from 19 G20 member countries, 10 invited states and 22 International Organizations are participating. Ministry of Ayush has set up a stall at exhibition on Digital Health organized on the sidelines of the 2nd meeting of HWG.

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