Artificial intelligence and inclusive language technologies moved to the forefront of India’s digital health strategy as the Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding with the National Health Authority (NHA) to embed multilingual, AI-powered language services across Ayushman Bharat’s digital platforms.

The agreement was formalised during the Chintan Shivir – National Review of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The collaboration marks a significant step towards building a more accessible, citizen-centric and linguistically inclusive digital health ecosystem.

Under the MoU, DIBD will support NHA in deploying multilingual and voice-enabled solutions across beneficiary-facing and administrative platforms. The integration will include advanced language technologies such as translation services, speech recognition and text-to-speech tools, backed by strong provisions for secure system integration, responsible data governance and continuous improvement of language models through real-world usage and feedback.

The partnership aligns with the Government of India’s broader vision of embedding Indian languages into Digital Public Infrastructure and advancing citizen-centric, AI-enabled governance in healthcare, bringing the promise of digital services closer to every beneficiary, regardless of language or location.

The national review meeting, organised by the National Health Authority, brought together senior officials from the Union and State Governments, technical institutions and implementing agencies to review progress and accelerate the adoption of digital health initiatives across the country. The deliberations were closely aligned to advance digital health through AI-driven innovation and inclusive language access, ensuring that digital platforms remain usable, accessible and effective across linguistic and geographic boundaries.