AI Can Be Optimised for Better Healthcare

Syllabus: GS2/Health; GS3/Science and Technology

Context

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be optimised for better healthcare where delays can be reduced, clinicians can make better-informed decisions, and more patients can receive appropriate care.

About

• In 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized more than 1,000 AI-enabled medical devices. These include tools used in radiology, cardiology, and other areas of diagnosis. 
• In the U.K., the NHS issued a guidance in 2025 for the use of AI-enabled ambient scribing. 
  • By 2026, the country was developing a national programme to support wider adoption.
  • These point to a wider change, AI is moving out of innovation teams and into consultations, diagnostic workflows, and hospital operations. 

Healthcare Sector of India

• India’s healthcare delivery system is categorised into two major components – public and private. 
  • Public Sector: It comprises limited secondary and tertiary care institutions in key cities and focuses on providing basic healthcare facilities in the form of Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) in rural areas. 
  • Private Sector: The private sector provides the majority of secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care institutions with a major concentration in metros, tier-I, and tier-II cities.
• Medical Tourism: India ranks 10th in Medical Tourism Index (MTI) for 2020-2021 out of 46 destinations in the world.
  • 12th among the world’s top 20 wellness tourism markets.
  • 5th among the top 10 wellness destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.
• India has 69,364 hospitals (43,486 private hospitals, and 25,778 public hospitals) with 1.2 million registered doctors, achieving WHO recommended doctor population ratio.
• Future Projection: The hospital sector in India was valued at INR 7940.87 Bn in FY21 in terms of revenue & is expected to reach INR 18,348.78 Bn by FY 2027, growing at a CAGR of 18.24%.

Major Challenges Faced by Healthcare Sector in India:

• Lack of infrastructure: India has been struggling with deficient infrastructure in the form of lack of well-equipped medical institutes.
  • The government mandated that private medical colleges must be built on at least five acres of land hence, they were built in rural areas, where there was a lack of adequately qualified, full-time doctors due to living conditions, besides low pay scales.
• Shortage of Efficient and Trained Manpower: There is a severe shortage of trained manpower, this includes doctors, nurses, paramedics and primary healthcare workers.
  • The doctor-to-patient ratio remains low, which is merely 0.7 doctors per 1,000 people whereas the World Health Organisation (WHO) average is 2.5 doctors per 1,000 people. 
• Population Density and Demographics: The sheer size and diversity of the population pose unique challenges in providing healthcare services to all.
  • The aging population and the associated increase in chronic diseases add to the healthcare burden.
• High out-of-pocket Expenditure: While public hospitals offer free health services, these facilities are understaffed, poorly equipped, and located mainly in urban areas leaving no alternatives but to access private institutions and incurring high out-of-pocket expenses in healthcare. 
• Disease Burden: High prevalence of communicable diseases (such as tuberculosis) and the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases) pose a dual challenge.
  • Every year, roughly 5.8 million Indians die from heart and lung diseases, stroke, cancer and diabetes. 
• Lack of Diagnostic Services: The penetration of diagnostic services in India is mainly concentrated around metros and big cities. 
• Public-Private Partnership Issues: Challenges in fostering effective collaboration between the public and private sectors in healthcare.
  • Ensuring that the private healthcare sector serves the larger public health goals.

AI Based Solutions

• To Enhance Efficiency: An AI tool that helps prioritise a radiology scan, alerts a care team to a deteriorating patient or supports a physician handling a complex case in a smaller city can make existing capacity work more efficiently.
• Automating Few Tasks: AI can assist in appointment scheduling, clinical documentation, claims, inventory planning, and discharge management. Each task takes time away from care if handled poorly.
• Financial Benefits: A January 2026 McKinsey analysis estimated that applying AI across healthcare revenue-cycle operations could reduce the cost to collect by 30% to 60%.
  • For hospitals, these gains can free resources for clinical teams, equipment and capacity. 
  • They can also reduce administrative work that contributes to staff fatigue.
• Remote Monitoring: Using AI Remote monitoring can extend care beyond discharge. 
• Risk-based preventive programmes can identify people who need attention before symptoms become severe. 
• Virtual specialist support can connect smaller hospitals with expertise located elsewhere. 
• Diagnostics can be taken closer to communities, while hospitals maintain an ongoing relationship with patients managing diabetes, cardiac disease or cancer.

Conclusion

• AI can transform healthcare by making quality expertise more accessible, enabling early detection and improving the efficiency of care. 
• As healthcare is closely linked to the productivity and well-being of India’s population, its role extends beyond the health sector to economic development. 
• The true success of AI in healthcare will therefore lie in better health outcomes, greater accessibility and improved quality of life, rather than merely in technological deployment.

Source: TH