AI can transform India’s healthcare sector: Apollo's Shobana Kamineni - The Economic Times
AI's Transformative Potential in Indian Healthcare
Shobana Kamineni, executive chairperson of Apollo HealthCo, highlights the potential of AI to revolutionize India's healthcare sector. She emphasizes the country's large tech-enabled population as a key asset in leveraging AI's capabilities.
Addressing Healthcare Challenges with AI
Kamineni points out the existing shortages of doctors, nurses, and healthcare facilities. She advocates for AI-driven solutions, citing the faster data processing and potential for breakthroughs in disease treatment and vaccine development.
Despite challenges with digital penetration, Kamineni notes that AI is accessible via basic phones, enabling widespread reach. She highlights India's demographics and digital readiness as ideal for AI-driven healthcare models. The focus is on smart devices and intelligent infrastructure to overcome limitations of brick-and-mortar hospitals.
Apollo Hospitals' AI Initiatives
Apollo Hospitals is actively implementing AI across various workflows, with GenAI improving doctor productivity by 50%-85%. Kamineni emphasizes the ethical deployment of AI and the need for regulations regarding patient data usage, particularly in sensitive areas. The hospital is investing in AI-enabled doctors' assistants, remote diagnostics, and decision-support tools.
Collaboration for a National AI-Health Data Backbone
Kamineni calls for public-private collaboration to create a national AI-health data backbone, balancing patient privacy with research and innovation. She stresses the importance of models reflecting the Indian genome and disease profile.
- Addressing doctor and facility shortages
- Leveraging India's tech-savvy population
- Implementing AI across clinical and non-clinical workflows
- Focusing on ethical deployment and data privacy
- Promoting public-private collaboration for a national AI-health data backbone
“We don’t have enough doctors, nurses, or healthcare facilities. But we have enough people who are tech-enabled and can be upskilled,” she said.
The veteran executive, the daughter of Prathap C Reddy, the founder and chairman of Apollo Hospitals, referred to Nobel Laureate Demis Hassabis saying no invention in the world will happen without AI in future. “So, the next vaccine or the ability to cure the disease will be AI-based because it’s so much faster, it crunches so much more data.” Although digital penetration in India remains a challenge, Kamineni pointed out that AI is no longer defined by an app, and telemedicine is just a phone call away.“It’s just a phone call to an AI system which can do the consultation and quickly send the summary to the doctor. And 80% of India’s population have access to basic phones today.” She pointed out that India’s demographic challenges, combined with its digital readiness, make it an ideal testbed for AI-driven healthcare models.
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“We must make sure that the data that’s being used to train these models reflects the Indian genome and disease profile. That’s a gap today. We cannot simply use models trained on Western populations and assume they will work here.”
Kamineni also said Apollo is investing in AI-enabled doctors’ assistants, remote diagnostics, and decision-support tools for clinicians to improve turnaround times and reduce burnout.
“Imagine a junior doctor who can consult an AI assistant for a differential diagnosis, or a nurse who gets real-time alerts on patient vitals before a critical event. That’s not the future. It’s already happening.”
On the macro level, she called for public-private collaboration in creating a national AI-health data backbone - one that respects patient privacy but enables research and innovation at scale.
“This is not about competition, it’s about cooperation. If India gets this right, we can build the most inclusive and efficient healthcare system in the world.”
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