India’s digital health overhaul offers blueprint for the West, TrioTree CEO shares
KARNATAKA, INDIA — India’s digital healthcare transformation is setting a global example for scalable, low-cost health IT solutions, acording to Surjeet Thakur, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TrioTree Technologies, a provider of healthcare solutions in India, UK, and the Middle East.
In an article published in CXOToday.com, Thakur shared that with over ₹740 crore (US$8.6 million) digital health IDs issued and AI diagnostics growing at a 40% annual rate, the country’s approach offers critical lessons for emerging economies facing infrastructure gaps and inequities.
India’s digital health prioritizes interoperability and scale
In contrast to the many systems present in most Western nations, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) will ensure interoperability through open APIs, ensuring that data generated by rural clinics and urban hospitals is compatible with one another.
This federated model also enables low-resource facilities to be integrated into the national health grid without the need to connect to expensive, proprietary systems. However, Thakur writes that the absence of direct electricity, low internet connectivity, and digital illiteracy persist as significant challenges to adoption in rural areas.
Although a multilingual interface and offline registration in India are beneficial in bridging the gap, it is essential to invest in infrastructure and training. This decentralized implementation approach of the country provides a framework offering the West a roadmap to modernize fragmented infrastructures.
AI and public-private collaboration accelerate affordable care
Artificial intelligence is the latest innovation to transform healthcare delivery in India, and the AI healthcare market is expected to reach ₹13,000 crore (US$1.5 billion) by 2025.
Clinical needs such as diagnostic AI are filling the gap in the expert workforce shortages. eSanjeevani, India’s national telemedicine service, and AI chatbots are even more efficient because they allow triage and shorten waiting times in overburdened public hospitals.
Despite this, Thakur suggests that technological advancements are providing a cushion in the area of privacy, with India presenting its Digital Personal Data Protection Act in 2023. However, he stresses that proper quality governance has yet to take shape fully.
The government is tapping into public-private partnerships, which means that startups can develop on the open architecture of ABDM without the concept of vendor lock-in, enabling innovation.
In the context of emerging economies, the example of India demonstrates that it is possible to enhance the quality of care with the aid of AI without exacerbating inequality, as long as transparency and equity are prioritized which western nations could integrate—enhancing data sharing, reduce reliance on costly proprietary systems, and deploy AI to alleviate workforce shortages.
