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India AI Impact Summit 2026: SAHI and BODH Projects

India AI Impact Summit 2026 has started, in which the second day of the summit is going on today. On this occasion, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda has launched two important national projects. One of these is the Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (SAHI) and the other is the Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI (BODH). Their goal is that the benefits of AI should not be limited to hospitals in big cities, but should reach all levels of India’s public health system. Let us analyze both these projects in detail.

SAHI: Guidelines for AI

SAHI is a kind of ‘rulebook’, which provides specific guidelines for AI. It doesn’t just outline key principles or ethics, but clearly outlines how to manage data and validate AI models. SAHI’s main objective is to ensure that when states or private companies use AI, they all operate within a standardized, reliable, and accountable system.

BODH: Test Lab for Medical Algorithms

BODH has been developed by IIT Kanpur in collaboration with the National Health Authority. It serves as a ‘test lab’ where developers can test their AI models against real health data, without seeing the data directly. It is also a digital public asset under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), the aim of which is to ensure that only those tools are available to the public which are reliable and properly validated.

Other AI tools discussed at the summit

This summit not only had policy discussions but also showcased the technologies working in the real field, which are giving a new shape to rural health. The most talked about of these was MadhuNetrAI, an AI system that screens the eyes of diabetic patients. With the help of this system even general health workers can identify early symptoms.

Another system is the Cough Against TB (CA-TB) tool, which detects whether a patient has tuberculosis by recording the sound of a cough from a smartphone. Jio Arogya AI is also named in this list, which is an AI based smart mirror. As the patient stands in front of this mirror, it collects essential health data by scanning various signals from the eyes, skin and face. Finally, AI processes this information and generates a preliminary health report.

features

• SAHI: Complete Guidelines for AI
• BODH: Platform for Testing Medical Algorithms
• MadhuNetrAI: Diabetes Eye Screening
• CA-TB: AI tool for tuberculosis detection
• Jio Arogya AI: Smart Mirror Health Checkup

display and performance

The technologies showcased at the recent summit have made it clear that AI can play an important role in healthcare. Through this, access and quality of health services can be promoted in rural areas.