India to Launch SAHI & BODH at AI Impact Summit 2026

SAHI is expected to define healthcare-specific AI governance, standards and implementation priorities, while BODH will introduce a transparent benchmarking mechanism to validate AI models that protect patient data.

The India AI Impact Summit is set to launch a national governance and validation framework to enable responsible, evidence-based, and scalable AI adoption in India’s public healthcare ecosystem.

The twin initiatives called Strategy for AI in Healthcare for India (SAHI) - a strategic framework for AI integration into public healthcare delivery, and BODH (Benchmarking Open Data Platform in Health AI) - a benchmarking platform to validate AI healthcare models, are expected to provide both policy direction and technical infrastructure for systematic AI deployment across India’s healthcare ecosystem.

SAHI is expected to define healthcare-specific AI governance, standards and implementation priorities, while BODH will introduce a transparent benchmarking mechanism to validate AI models using federated learning frameworks that protect patient data.

Developed in collaboration with IIT Kanpur, BODH aims to create a common validation ecosystem where AI tools for diagnostics, triaging and surveillance can be independently tested before integration into public systems.

By introducing structured benchmarking, the platform is designed to improve trust, safety and performance accountability in AI-driven clinical applications.

SAHI will complement this by outlining ethical safeguards, interoperability standards and deployment guidelines aligned with national and international frameworks.

India’s public health programmes have already integrated AI tools in tuberculosis risk prediction, diabetic retinopathy screening, telemedicine-assisted consultations and outbreak surveillance.

AI-supported TB screening has contributed to a measurable decline in adverse treatment outcomes, while digital retinal screening has expanded access to early detection services. The eSanjeevani platform has facilitated hundreds of millions of consultations, with AI-enabled clinical decision support assisting physicians.

Surveillance systems using AI-driven analytics have generated thousands of early alerts for potential outbreaks.

The upcoming launch is expected to consolidate these fragmented deployments into a coordinated, standards-based ecosystem. With Centres of Excellence in AI across leading medical institutions and collaborations involving global health bodies, India is positioning itself to scale AI in a structured and accountable manner.

The India AI Impact Summit 2026 is a five-day global artificial intelligence event being hosted in New Delhi. It brings together heads of state, global CEOs, technology leaders, policymakers, researchers, and innovators to discuss the transformative role of AI across sectors and promote global collaboration.

The summit features over 500 sessions and more than 3,250 speakers, focusing on human-centric and responsible AI, economic growth, AI safety, inclusion, and real-world use cases in areas including healthcare, agriculture, education, and governance.

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