Telemedicine to AI: Building India’s Digital Health Ecosystem

On February 11, 2026, the ISfTeH and the Telemedicine Society of India (TSI) co-hosted a webinar focused on India’s rapidly evolving digital health landscape. The session placed significant emphasis on the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), with panelists discussing how ABDM’s interoperability sandbox acts as a critical enabler for longitudinal electronic health records across India’s decentralized healthcare system. This ambitious infrastructure is supported by the foundational privacy protections of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, which ensures patient trust remains central to the expansion of digital health tools.

A central theme of the discussion was the integration of AI as a clinical decision-support tool rather than an autonomous decision-maker. Leaders from the Indian digital health sector shared practical examples of AI applications in tele-ICU and tele-emergency settings, demonstrating how camera-enabled systems are driving the development of “smart hospital rooms” to detect early signs of patient deterioration. Ultimately, the panel reinforced that AI-enabled telemedicine is a vital mechanism for bridging the gap in medical expertise, extending specialist care to underserved areas, and improving overall healthcare equity.

Read the executive summary