AI ALONE WON'T HEAL INDIA'S HEALTH CARE

India needs a mission-driven, public-first approach in using AI for health, not a race to mimic the west

- BY AMIT SETHI & DR SWAPNIL RANE

In India, over 65 per cent of health care spending is out of pocket, and access to qualified medical advice is often a privilege reserved for those in big cities. Only about a fifth of cancers are caught in early stages—when they are most treatable—because screening programmes and radiologists are scarce. Even among patients whose cancers could benefit from targeted therapies such as trastuzumab for HER2-positive breast cancer or tyrosine kinase inhibitors for EGFR-positive lung cancer, only about a third receive the necessary diagnostic tests. India has barely a fifth of the radiologists and pathologists it needs, and even fewer oncology experts. The contrast with western systems, where early diagnosis and precision care are routine, is stark.

Artificial intelligence is often hailed as the great equaliser for such shortages. But we must be clear about what it can—and cannot—do. AI cannot conduct clinical trials, invent drugs, perform surgeries, or offer the empathy that defines care. What it can do is improve prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment planning and hospital operations. It can transcribe notes, route patients efficiently, predict resource needs and flag anomalies in scans for doctors to review. Used wisely, AI can be the overworked doctor's ally and force multiplier, not his or her replacement.

Yet health care is not a market commodity. Education, policing, defence and health care exist for public welfare, not shareholder value. Left to market forces, profit motives can lead to unnecessary procedures, inflated claims and catastrophic medical debt—as the US experience shows. If guided solely by commercial interests, AI-driven health care risks deepening inequities and creating new silos. The government must therefore play a pivotal role, not just as regulator, but as a mission leader ensuring AI serves national health goals first.