National AI Doctors Mission launched New Delhi

The National AI Doctors Mission was launched in New Delhi at HealthAIcon 2026, adding a new layer to India’s push to move artificial intelligence from pilot projects into everyday medical practice. Organizers said the mission is meant to make AI usable for frontline doctors rather than keep it confined to specialist conferences or technology teams. The event took place on May 17 at Eros Hotel in New Delhi and was organized by Medical Dialogues in association with the National Medical Forum. NDTV reported on May 18 that the mission is aimed at integrating AI into routine clinical care and setting up a practical path for implementation in hospitals. ### What exactly was launched in New Delhi? The National AI Doctors Mission, or NAIDM, was presented as a national effort to build awareness, training and ethical guardrails around clinical AI use. Dr Prem Aggarwal, who chaired the summit, said the mission aims to “build awareness, create structured learning pathways, and ensure the responsible and ethical clinical use of AI in healthcare.” He said the goal was to create a “structured national movement” for safe and effective AI adoption. (ndtv.com) NDTV said the mission’s core philosophy is to make AI “useful and usable for every doctor,” reflecting a focus on practical adoption rather than specialist-only tools. The report said the initiative was organized by Medical Dialogues in collaboration with the National Medical Forum. ### Who was behind the event, and who spoke? (news.abplive.com) HealthAIcon 2026 brought together policymakers, clinicians, researchers and industry figures in New Delhi on May 17. ABP Live and Medical Dialogues said participants included National Medical Commission Chairperson and NBEMS President Dr Abhijat Sheth, ICMR Additional Director General Dr Sanghamitra Pati, Sunita Verma from the Ministry of Electronics and IT, National Dental Commission Chairperson Dr Sanjay Tewari and Dr Lal PathLabs Executive Chairman Dr Arvind Lal. (ndtv.com) The Indian Express reported that the conference was the first national medical conference hosted by Medical Dialogues and the National Medical Forum focused on AI in healthcare. The meeting centered on adoption of AI in medical settings and discussion of ethical, safe and quality use in practice, the report said. ### What did Dr Abhijat Sheth say about doctors and AI? (news.abplive.com) Dr Abhijat Sheth said medical education would have to change because AI is already entering clinical settings. NDTV quoted him as saying, “If we continue to train doctors only within the traditional framework, we risk creating a gap between what is taught and what is practised. AI is already a part of the clinical environment now.” (indianexpress.com) The Indian Express, citing PTI, quoted Sheth as saying India is adopting AI “at scale across a diverse healthcare system,” which brings “both opportunity and responsibility.” He also said AI should support, not replace, doctors, and that physicians must understand what AI can and cannot do, interpret outputs critically and maintain independent clinical judgment. (ndtv.com) ### How does this fit with India’s broader health AI policy? Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda launched SAHI and BODH at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in February, creating a national framework and testing platform for health AI. NDTV reported that SAHI is intended to guide development, validation and deployment of AI tools across hospitals, public health programs, pharmaceuticals and digital health systems, while BODH is meant to test models on anonymized real-world datasets before large-scale deployment. (indianexpress.com) Those earlier measures matter because the new doctors mission appears to sit closer to training and clinical uptake, while SAHI and BODH cover governance, validation and evaluation. That division is an inference based on the descriptions of each initiative in reporting from NDTV, Medical Dialogues and ABP Live. ### What questions remain before this changes hospital practice? (ndtv.com) NDTV said the mission raises implementation questions around how hospitals will deploy AI tools in practice and what challenges may emerge during clinical use. The report also pointed to skepticism among practicing physicians, including concerns over steep learning curves and whether automated systems could undermine clinical intuition. (news.abplive.com) The next concrete markers are likely to come from the mission’s promised structured learning pathways and from any hospital-level rollout guidance tied to SAHI and BODH. HealthAIcon organizers and participating bodies including the National Medical Commission, NBEMS and the National Medical Forum are the named institutions to watch for those details. (news.abplive.com) (ndtv.com)