Capacity Building in Digital Health

20 Feb 2026 14:00h - 15:00h

Session at a glance

Summary

This discussion focused on capacity building and technology adoption in healthcare, examining how different healthcare professions are adapting to digital transformation and AI integration. The panel included representatives from pharmacy, nursing, global health policy, and health technology sectors, moderated by Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta.

Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi highlighted significant challenges in pharmacy education and practice, noting that community pharmacy hasn’t developed adequately in India due to social structures and remuneration issues. He emphasized that pharmacists have enormous potential to contribute throughout the healthcare value chain, but this requires substantial mindset changes within the profession. Dr. Sarvjeet Kaur, representing 2.2 million nurses through the Indian Nursing Council, described concrete steps taken to integrate digital health into nursing education, including mandatory simulation labs, computer education requirements, and the establishment of national reference simulation centers that have trained over 2,000 faculty members.

Dr. Suresh Yadav provided a global perspective, explaining that healthcare worker shortages cost approximately 15% of global GDP and affect around 10-12 million positions worldwide. He advocated for digital solutions and AI as essential tools to help individual healthcare workers serve multiple patients more effectively, while also proposing global connectivity systems that could allow doctors to serve patients across international boundaries. Zaw Ali Khan, as a health technology entrepreneur, stressed the importance of designing scalable AI solutions that can adapt to varying levels of digital maturity across healthcare institutions.

The discussion revealed that successful technology adoption requires addressing both technical training and fundamental mindset shifts, with continuous education through CME programs being crucial since curriculum changes occur too slowly to keep pace with technological advancement.

Keypoints

Major Discussion Points:

– Healthcare workforce shortage and capacity building challenges: The discussion highlighted the global shortage of healthcare professionals (costing 15% of global GDP) and the need for systemic changes in how healthcare workers are trained and retained, particularly addressing issues like low remuneration and limited career prospects in fields like community pharmacy.

– Integration of AI and digital health into healthcare education: Panelists discussed efforts to incorporate digital health and AI into nursing and pharmacy curricula, including mandatory simulation labs, computer education requirements, and the challenge of updating curricula to keep pace with rapidly evolving technology.

– Technology as a solution multiplier for healthcare capacity: The conversation explored how AI and digital technologies can enable healthcare workers to serve more patients effectively, create global healthcare ecosystems connecting doctors across borders, and fundamentally reimagine healthcare delivery rather than just digitizing existing processes.

– Regulatory and implementation challenges: Discussion covered the difficulties of changing established systems, including the need for mindset shifts among healthcare professionals, the challenge of training faculty who may not be digitally native, and the importance of making technology solutions scalable across institutions with varying levels of digital maturity.

– Global healthcare ecosystem and cross-border opportunities: The panel explored how technology could enable international healthcare collaboration, allowing doctors to serve patients remotely across countries and creating opportunities for countries like India to leverage their healthcare workforce globally.

Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to explore strategies for building healthcare capacity through technology integration, addressing workforce shortages, and examining how regulatory bodies, educational institutions, and technology companies can collaborate to transform healthcare delivery and training.

Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained an optimistic and solution-oriented tone throughout, with panelists acknowledging significant challenges while focusing on practical solutions and positive examples of progress. The tone was collaborative and forward-looking, with experts sharing concrete examples of successful implementations and expressing confidence in technology’s potential to address healthcare capacity issues, despite recognizing the complexity of systemic change required.

Speakers

– Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi: Role/Title not explicitly mentioned, but appears to be involved in pharmaceutical education and regulation based on discussion content

– Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta: Moderator of the discussion, involved in education policy and digital health initiatives

– Dr. Sarvjeet Kaur: Secretary of the Indian Nursing Council, represents 2.2 million nurses, regulatory role in nursing education and standards

– Dr. Suresh Yadav: Works with Commonwealth organization focusing on 56 member nations, has experience with World Bank and President of India, expertise in AI and digital health policy at global level

– Aneesh Chopra: Former government official with experience in technology policy, references experience during Obama administration and financial crisis management

– Zaw Ali Khan: Entrepreneur in health technology, founder/involved with DTX (Digital Therapeutics), develops AI-driven healthcare technologies

– Audience: Multiple audience members asking questions during Q&A session

Additional speakers:

None identified beyond the provided speakers names list.

Full session report

This comprehensive discussion on capacity building and technology adoption in healthcare brought together diverse stakeholders to examine how different healthcare professions are navigating digital transformation and artificial intelligence integration. The panel, moderated by Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta, included representatives from pharmacy regulation, nursing councils, global health policy, and health technology entrepreneurship, creating a multifaceted exploration of both challenges and opportunities in healthcare workforce development.

Global Healthcare Workforce Crisis and Economic Impact

The discussion opened with Dr. Suresh Yadav highlighting the magnitude of the global healthcare workforce shortage, which he stated costs “15% of the global GDP of $120 trillion economy.” This economic framing positioned the conversation as addressing a global economic crisis requiring urgent intervention. The shortage affects 10-12 million healthcare positions worldwide, creating cascading effects across various segments of society.

Dr. Yadav illustrated the global nature of this challenge with examples ranging from demographic issues in countries like Japan and Nordic nations, where aging populations require more care from fewer available workers, to his personal experience in rural eastern Uttar Pradesh, where finding healthcare workers remains difficult even when payment is available. This demonstrates how the shortage affects both developed and developing regions in different ways.

Pharmacy Sector Challenges and Transformation Needs

Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi provided a candid assessment of the pharmacy profession’s struggles with modernization. He identified a fundamental issue: very few pharmacy graduates choose community pharmacy by preference, with most gravitating towards manufacturing or research and development roles in pharmaceutical companies. This preference pattern stems from structural issues including inadequate remuneration, limited career potential, and social perceptions of the profession.

According to Raghuvanshi, the community pharmacy sector’s underdevelopment in India reflects broader social structures that have not recognized the potential role of pharmacists in healthcare delivery. He emphasized that pharmacists are uniquely positioned to contribute throughout the healthcare value chain and could serve patients at the last mile more effectively than other healthcare professionals.

Raghuvanshi noted that addressing these challenges requires substantial change management and fundamental mindset shifts within the pharmacy community. He made an important clarification about regulatory flexibility, explaining that bodies like the Pharmacy Council of India establish minimum requirements rather than maximum limitations, meaning educational institutions have considerable freedom to add modern technology courses and innovation programs beyond basic requirements.

Nursing Education and Digital Integration

Dr. Sarvjeet Kaur, representing 2.2 million nurses through the Indian Nursing Council, provided concrete examples of how regulatory bodies can drive digital transformation in healthcare education. She described significant changes implemented in the BSc nursing curriculum in 2021, including the integration of artificial intelligence and digital health into basic nursing curricula.

The integration strategy includes making five simulation laboratories mandatory for nursing education, with specified equipment lists including mannequins and virtual reality systems. This requirement addresses the challenge of limited clinical facilities for approximately 250,000 nursing students graduating annually from GNM and BSc programs.

Dr. Kaur described the council’s systematic approach to faculty preparedness, establishing two national reference simulation centers—one in Gurgaon and another in Bhagalkot. The Gurgaon center has trained around 2,000 faculty members on using simulators for nursing education, following a train-the-trainer approach to ensure expensive equipment becomes integral to educational practice rather than remaining unused.

The council implemented mandatory continuing education, linking 150 CNE hours to nursing license renewal every five years. This creates a regulatory framework for ongoing professional development and provides a mechanism for introducing new technologies throughout nurses’ careers. Dr. Kaur noted that curriculum changes “took almost three years to bring about a change,” referring to the development process for these comprehensive reforms.

Global Health Ecosystem and Cross-Border Opportunities

Dr. Yadav presented a vision for reimagining healthcare delivery through global connectivity and digital technologies. His proposal centers on creating healthcare systems that transcend national boundaries, enabling doctors to serve patients remotely across countries and reducing medical travel needs. This approach could address both the global shortage of healthcare workers and the uneven distribution of medical expertise.

The vision includes connecting healthcare providers globally through digital platforms, allowing patients to access diagnostic services, consultations, and treatment planning remotely, with physical presence required only for specific procedures. Dr. Yadav highlighted India’s advantages in this transformation, including substantial human resources, a young population entering the job market, growing digital technology capabilities, and a global diaspora of 20 million people who maintain trust in Indian medical practices.

He advocated for integrated healthcare systems, comparing fragmented healthcare systems to the connected systems in countries like the United States, where providers share information seamlessly. Dr. Yadav proposed healthcare ERP systems similar to those used by multinational enterprises to connect all healthcare workers in a comprehensive ecosystem.

Technology Entrepreneurship and Scalable Solutions

Zaw Ali Khan introduced crucial design principles for healthcare technology development, focusing on creating solutions scalable in both volume and complexity. His approach recognizes that healthcare institutions exist across a spectrum of digital maturity, from digitally native hospitals to completely analog facilities, requiring technology solutions that accommodate this variation.

Khan described their EISU solution as exemplifying this principle, offering functionality from basic remote vital monitoring to advanced clinical decision support systems, with complexity levels adjusting based on institutional readiness. This adaptive approach ensures technology serves as a bridge rather than a barrier in digital transformation.

Khan emphasized the dual responsibility of technology companies in influencing current workforce practices and training future healthcare workers through partnerships with educational institutions and hands-on training programs.

Policy Innovation and Systemic Change

Aneesh Chopra contributed perspectives on policy innovation, arguing that successful technology integration requires fundamental reimagining of problems rather than simply applying new tools to existing processes. His concept of “innovation pipeline management” involves setting ambitious but achievable targets and allowing multiple stakeholders to propose solutions.

Chopra illustrated this with a tuberculosis detection example: rather than training more healthcare workers to detect tuberculosis using traditional methods, AI-based voice analysis technology can identify 25% more cases through an entirely different approach. This represents the kind of paradigm shift he advocates—focusing on outcomes rather than processes.

Continuous Professional Development and Technology Adoption

The discussion revealed strong agreement on the importance of continuous professional development over one-time educational interventions. Dr. Kaur’s implementation of mandatory CNE hours linked to license renewal creates a sustainable framework for ongoing technology adoption and skill development.

Multiple speakers addressed concerns about age and technology adoption. Dr. Gupta noted that 80% of participants in digital health courses have more than 20 years of experience, with some having 50 years post-MBBS experience, demonstrating that motivation and mindset matter more than age in technology adoption.

Implementation Challenges and Practical Considerations

The discussion acknowledged several implementation challenges. Faculty preparedness emerged as a critical issue, with audience members expressing concern about experienced educators lacking digital health expertise being responsible for training the next generation.

Pricing models for healthcare technology in emerging markets represent another significant challenge. An audience member described how products successful in US markets fail in India due to pricing issues, highlighting the need for different economic models for different markets.

The conversation also addressed mental health support for healthcare professionals, recognizing that healthcare worker wellbeing is essential for overall system sustainability and quality of care.

Future Directions and Ongoing Challenges

While the discussion generated optimism about technology’s potential to address healthcare capacity challenges, several issues remain unresolved. Community pharmacy development in India continues to face structural barriers that technology alone cannot address. Healthcare system fragmentation persists globally, requiring integrated solutions that remain largely theoretical.

The challenge of political education on healthcare technology capabilities lacks systematic approaches, despite the critical importance of policy support for digital transformation. Regulatory approval processes for medical devices and AI solutions need modernization, but specific approaches remain unclear.

Conclusion

This discussion revealed both the magnitude of healthcare capacity challenges and significant potential for technology-enabled solutions. Key themes emerged around the importance of mindset change in technology adoption, the need for continuous professional development, and the requirement for scalable solutions that adapt to different institutional capabilities.

The conversation combined global perspectives with practical implementation experiences, regulatory insights with entrepreneurial innovation, and policy vision with ground-level challenges. While significant obstacles remain, the examples of successful implementations suggest that coordinated action across regulatory bodies, educational institutions, technology companies, and policymakers could create meaningful change in healthcare capacity and delivery.

The discussion demonstrated that while challenges are substantial, tools and approaches for addressing them are increasingly available, with success depending on coordinating various efforts into coherent strategies that can scale across different contexts and institutional capabilities.

Session transcript

Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi

Just by choice, very small fraction would probably take it by choice. Still people want to do jobs in manufacturing or R &D in the pharma companies. So that’s a big factor which we have to solve, which ultimately falls into the remunerations which people get, the future potential of your profession and all that. The community pharmacy in reality has not picked up in this country because of the social structure which we have. Otherwise, the capacity building for anything to do with healthcare, these pharmacists, community pharmacists have to play a very strong role. If you see doctors, nurses, other health technicians, you will find them concerned. They are concentrated in hospitals. But in the society, if you see the spread, the most…

basically the the biggest possibility is for any profession in health care it is for pharmacists through the whole retail chain distribution supply chain management and they are the people who can actually contribute up to the last mile of the value chain so this this needs a strong change management the the change is happening but i think it would take some more time because it’s a professional and mindset change and thinking change for pharmacists.

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Thank you so much i think very important point that it’s more about mindset change than just technology uh dr Sarvjeet Kaur, we are very fortunate to have you with us as the secretary of the indian nursing council you represent 2 .2 million nurses and more probably if we account for every registration is three so which is like 10 percent of the world’s nurses. How are nurses coping up with the changes in technology with regards to health care and what are you doing at inc?

Dr. Sarvjeet Kaur

Thank you, Dr. Gupta, for this question and for this opportunity to be here in this esteemed panel. So to answer your question from the regulatory point of view, we have tried to integrate the AI and the digital health into the basic nursing curriculum. We had a change of the BSc nursing curriculum in 2021, and we have started by putting the emphasis on building competencies through the digital health and AI. So five simulation labs have now become mandatory. We have given lab equipments, the list of mannequins, VR, etc., that can be used to build up competencies, because we are also seeing that the clinical facilities that are out there for the nursing students to build up those competencies is becoming limited.

We are having almost 2 .5 lakh nursing students getting passed out. for GNM and BSc, like both getting registered as registered nurses, registered midwife. So we have started from scratch, if I can say so. We have started with computer education. We have given guidelines like for every five students, there should be one computer. We have given computer labs right out there. And we have also worked towards faculty preparedness. So there is, you know, complete adoption, like, you know, the panelists brought out. This has to be a change of mindset. So even if you have these expensive equipments out there, how do you use them and not just keep them in the cupboards, you know, safe as an inventory articles?

So we have started with two national reference simulation centers, one in Gurgaon and the other one just recently opened last two months back in the south, Bhagalkot. And we started with. Faculty preparedness. For the Gurgaon NRSC, we have trained around 2000 faculty on how to use these simulators for each and every nursing student. So what as a regulatory body we are looking is for each and every nursing student to embrace the digital technology as she is working to be a nurse to build up her competencies. And even for in -service, we are linking it up. As you’re aware, with a lot of push from your side, we’ve had this professional digital nursing course of six months, which a lot of takers are there in nursing who are wanting to do this.

But I think we need much more courses like that. We are linking it to C &E hours. We have also brought out our online registration system for the nurses, which again, we are trying to link it with all these. Kinds of opportunities for them. So more nurses benefit out of it. and in the abroad if you see we are having you know these chief technical nurses also now what you know trying to resolve issues like staffing, prevention falls, policies to improve nursing so I think we here also in India need to do a lot in terms of policies to empower every A &M who is working in the rural or every community health officer who’s working in the Arogya Mandir’s or every nurse who is wanting to do better for her patients in the super specialized hospitals there’s a lot more to be done.

Thank you.

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Thank you so much it’s very exciting to see how you have moved to bring digital courses to nurses and the offtake for that and I also keep hearing very positive feedback on this opportunity for nurses. Thank you so much. Now I move to Dr. Suresh Yadav who I’ve known as someone who not just ideas the future but creates the future so working with the President of India whether he went to World Bank whether he’s in Commonwealth even in Commonwealth years back you put the agenda of AI as a high priority. What is your work and role today at Commonwealth’s vision for the 56 member nations and more so for the small island states?

Dr. Suresh Yadav

Thank you. Thank you, Professor Gupta, and thank you for your leadership in this very important stage. He has been working in this Digital Health, Digital Health Parliament and global leadership when the world was not thinking. So it’s a great, great contribution by you to the system because digital has taken a frenzy only during the COVID and the post -COVID. Before that, it was just like a digital e -government systems around the world. Now, before I say anything, I’ll be very general in comment on the global level and then touching a little bit on the ground level. What did cost the global ecosystem? Anish described when there was a financial crisis. What global south at that point of time called a crisis triggered by the global north.

I mean, naming that particular country. So there, and he described how beautifully President Obama. steered the United States out of that very complicated and complex situation. Now, if you look at the shortages of the healthcare professionals to the global economy, what it costs, shortage is one part, it’s number. Maybe somewhere 100 ,000 people short, somewhere more number. What are the global implications? So the economic cost of these shortages of the healthcare workers, which is around, in all the categories, around 10 to 12 million, almost costs 15 % of the global GDP. And you can imagine that 15 % of the global GDP of $120 trillion economy. So it’s a huge, huge cost, just because we don’t have people.

It has a multiplier effect, and it’s leading to the cascading effect on the various other segments of the society. The other thing which is happening is that the healthcare workers are not getting paid. the global temperature rise, if you look at the climate and health, there is a latest Lancet report which brings very beautifully how the climate is driving health and leading to a different kind of a challenging situation. But also on this other side, I wanted to say that how health system is also contributing to the climate because one of the largest emitter on the planet. Now, given this situation, we know that so much is the shortages of the healthcare professionals and the nurses shortage is so much that Anisha will know better than I know that the US has a special visa for the nurses.

You may have a computer science degree but may not get a visa. But if you have a nurse experience certificate, you get a visa. So that is the level of the challenges which the world is facing. Now, we know that this is a challenge. What do we do? How do we do? How do we move forward? The other… Before I go to that, the other challenge is the aging population. If you look at Japan, if you look at the Nordic countries, the aging population number is rising. There are not many people to take care of that. Even if I have to get a health care worker in my village in eastern Uttar Pradesh, it’s so difficult.

Even if you want to pay the money, there are no people to serve you. So what do you do? One is, of course, the obvious solution that you train more number of people because there are a lot of people who are looking for the job. It’s not that people are not there. So how do you ramp up that capacity? I know in India, for creating a nursing school, you need to have hospitals, hospitals, and there are so many challenges in spite of setting up a lot of hospitals in the country. So one low -hanging fruit is the digital solutions. And on the top of that digital solution now is AI solution. Can I make one doctor serve 10 people?

Can I make one health care worker serve more than 5 times, 10 times more using the technologies management of the… system using the healthy ERP like multinational enterprises? are doing. The whole system is fragmented in the healthcare system. It should be in that ecosystem. The one good thing about the U.S. is that the doctor, the pharmacy, everybody is connected. So that at least fragmentation is not there in the U.S. system, but that fragmentation still exists in the U.K. system. But in India, that silo is very much there. So even if using this health ERP on the lines of corporate ERP, we are able to fix it, I think that will be a transformative approach of creating a very ecosystem approach where the health workers, the doctors, the nurses, those who want to volunteer and contribute, they will be all connected.

So that is one quick fix solution I see. The other I see that in the global market, and this was my pet project that particularly came out from the post -COVID that there are doctors who want to do more, but they have challenges. So how do you connect? a global or doctors without borders how can an Indian doctors so a patient in Kenya rather than Kenyan or Tinjanian patient traveling to India or if they have to travel they should travel only small portion rather than a big big time of two months three months so these technologies offers you that you can have your scans remotely you can upload send to doctor have all the diagnostic except the procedure which you are required to be there so it’s it’s not only a country health ecosystem but also a global health ecosystem which can which can be made available using the technologies and and then and I see that using that approach any best hospital or doctor the United States can be accessible to a patient in India or vice versa because a lot of Indian wants to consult a doctor in India my wife was in the US for 10 years is still believe in the Indian doctor and wants to have a medicine from India and this one so So 2 million, 20 million persons of Indian origin around the world.

So India can connect 1 .5 billion people within the country and 20 million people who still believe that I should have the Indian medicine, I should have the Indian doctors. So this is a huge, huge opportunity for India to take the leadership because you have the manpower, you have a lot of young people who enter the job market looking for the job, and you have the digital technology power. The only question is to putting these two together and make the nursing institutes, the hospital administration, the startups be all the part of the thriving ecosystem. I think if we can do it, we will have, we will really rather recreating or reimagining a healthcare system not only for India but for the entire world.

And this 15 % GDP, this global temperature rise, the climate health nexus, which I can talk about, these still will be a great enablement for the entire world. And I think that the government, the government of India, I think that the government of India will be able to do this. And I think that the government of India will be able to do this. And I think that the government of India will be able to do this. And I think that the government of India will be able to do this. And I think that the government of India will be able to do this. And I think that the government of India will be able to do this.

And I think that the government of India will be able to do this. And I think that the government of India will be able to do this. And I think that the government of India will be able to do this. And I think that the government of India will be able to do this. And I think that the government of India will be able to do this. there will be universal health access cutting across the boundaries not that within your boundaries but you can have access to rest of the words of the medicine of the supplies of the doctors of the procedures so I’ll stop here on this positive note and over to you.

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Thank you thank you so this is very interesting and you know I I always like optimism over technology even if you’re not optimism technology will move fast coming to use all you can’t you are an entrepreneur in technology while dr. Rajeev approved DTX you make DTX you have made amazing AI driven technologies what’s your take on capacity building do we have enough capacity to have more entrepreneurs like you we will have ideators like you but not entrepreneurs because we don’t have executors how do you define this?

Zaw Ali Khan

Thank you while of course I will be speaking on the on that part of technology as well how we can create entrepreneurs you But I think more to the point that my fellow panelists talked about, I think technology, when it comes to capacity building, technology companies have a significant role because they influence how the current workforce is practicing. And also they influence how the next generation of workforce will get trained. So that way we have a dual responsibility. And in that sense, I think there’s a design principle that every technology company should keep in mind or any budding entrepreneur should keep in mind. And that is that the way they design their AI or tech solutions, it should be in a manner that is scalable, not in terms of volume, but scalable in terms of complexity.

Because if you’re building something. And if you’re providing the healthcare industry with something, then you have to particularly in a. a country like India where you have a diverse spectrum of digital maturity across various institutes. Some hospitals might be digital native, some of them might be completely analog. So in that sense, you have to have a product that hand -holds the healthcare workers through the digital transformation journey. So the product is able to scale in complexity as the institutes scale in readiness. That’s how we have been building products. As an example, our EISU solution, its functionality ranges from basic remote vital monitoring to more complex smart alerts and advanced clinical decision support systems based on the readiness of the clinicians.

And that’s something that every institution needs. So I think that’s something that techpreneurs should keep in mind. impose AI or technology, rather the technology should adapt to the capacity, or rather it should be able to handhold the capacity and pull it up. One more point that I wanted to add was that just like technologists have been creating or co -creating the next generation of workforce when it comes to programmers and innovators, similarly I feel health tech companies have a responsibility in co -creating the next generation of healthcare workers. So with the academies like Academy of Digital Health Sciences, I think technology companies or specifically health tech companies should come forward and co -design some hands -on courses as well, like the one ma ‘am mentioned, the professional nurses course.

So that, we’re able to expose the students early on to this developments.

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

So i’ll have a few two questions to the you know experts before we move to audience questions uh this is to uh first dr sarrajit to you because you’re a regulator you made an important point that you want to change i mean you have already done that by incorporating digital health as a part of the education you know when i was writing the education policy my biggest worry was technology moves with the pace that you can’t change your curriculum every now and then because by the time you go to the academic council governing board new technology has come so you is there a way you’re looking at to make i think you talked about cme but is that the way we should look at looking at training all professions you know adding cmes rather than changing curriculum every now and then because that’s going to be really tough

Dr. Sarvjeet Kaur

um curriculum changes normally occurs say once in a decade and that also is a long process when we brought out the bsc nursing change we took almost three years to bring about a change with all the you know there’s a whole process to it including the public amends and bringing about changes so yes at that point of time whatever is the best for the nursing students we have tried to do that but at the same time we also need to understand that there is this like 40 uh lakhs like you know four million nurses already out there in the country in different states whose competencies also need to be built because they are the ones who are working be it in the rural or be it in the specialized hospitals and for this as a regulator we push upon having simulation centers that’s what we are saying one should be in every district so that you know there are some states who have already started taking this like you know we had Nira Maya in Uttar Pradesh and we had Union in Bihar where they are building up these competency centers integrating the digital technology with it certifying it so that and linking it to the CNE so the nurse carries it forward with her there are incentives there for the nurses to come up for these programs and to better integrate this into the health systems a lot needs to be done in this and as you’re also aware with the digital health academy we are now working towards having a one year or maybe a two -year program we are still working that out so when this also comes as a specialization more takers will be there I think it will again disseminate down it’s a mammoth task no doubt.

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Dr. Rajeev I wanted to ask you on that point only that you have drug inspectors across the country who were in the conventional you know world what are you doing for them to understand and of course for pharmacists too I want your point.

Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi

So, yeah, so before moving to that, I just had one comment on this one, the curriculum change, right? So this actually point comes again and again in pharma education also. And colleges and teachers say that we are not allowed to change. It is governed by PCI. But always I say one point. See, PCI or anybody which actually sets the courses, they give you the minimum which should happen. They don’t say that don’t go beyond this. So you have all open at the top. Whatever you want to do, you keep this minimum. Plus you go on adding if you want to. So if pharma is not having a course on innovation or management or any modern technology.

Computer programming, PCI doesn’t say that you can’t do it. PCI says that you keep pharma papers over and above this. If I want to keep innovation paper, I’m free to do that.

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Rajeev, I’m sure this message will go viral, but the problem is how many people read it in that manner. You know, when we started courses, we put a line. The contents of this course will change based on the developments in the field. And we had really tough time telling that it can be in the prospectus. I said, we have to do that. The field is changing. And that brings me to Anish, because always the problem comes, what do you do to governments? You know, when you’re talking of technology, we can have regulators change it. We can have, you know, councils change it. But how do politicians get changed? Do we have a crash course for them?

Aneesh Chopra

Well, so here is the, there’s a, that’s a spicy question, but let me, let me, let me handle it. Well, this is in the U.S. It was funny when you saw the senators asking Mark Zuckerberg questions that were not very smart. So there was obviously a push to get education about what the technology means. But let me, let me shift that question in a different way. A lot of this assumes that the job to be done is the same. but you’ve introduced new tools so that you train people on how to do the same job but with the new tools. The politician or the policymaker is often focused on the outcome or the objective, the problem to be solved.

And it may be that we spent 10 years doing it this way, we’ve funded it, organized it, and you should be educated on how technology will influence it. But at some point, there’ll be a flip. Hey, I’ve got an entirely new way of solving that outcome. And why don’t we reorganize this whole thing that takes advantage of new capacity that wasn’t possible but for the technology? Earlier in this conference, we heard from Sunil Wadwani from the Wadwani Foundation. He talked about tuberculosis deaths, half a million deaths. And he said a portion of those deaths come from individuals. Who obviously get later, you know, they’ve been detected later. And then others, they dropped off their medications too early.

So you’ve got these sort of error rates on both sides. And so you have a nurse or someone in the community, asha workers, someone helping, engaging. And so you could think about politicians saying, okay, do I have to fund a new program to do this technology? Or it turns out they’ve come up with an entirely new AI -based detection system, and they found 25 % more tuberculosis cases, not because they’ve educated, but they’ve introduced a whole new concept that you can change the diagnosis model through voice. You cough into a phone and it tells you, I’m paraphrasing what I heard earlier today. So this is the moment where the more we have flexibility in the political dilemma, dialogue, and some say this is zero -based budgeting that’s changed the way we fund our government.

There are lots of policy debates. but if you start with the principle that there’s a problem to be solved, we have too many people dying from tuberculosis too early. Now, let me say, look, we’ve got programming and funding and staff and people that do things to do this, but now a new technology shows up that allows me to think of this in an entirely new way and only possible to implement the strategies that come from this because it exists. That is a whole level of training that’s not training, oh, here’s how the buttons work. That is connecting the dots on what the capacity is to fundamentally reimagine the way to go about this. And so not to go back to capacity building, but I have coined this term innovation pipeline management in government.

DARPA, very famously, it’s our research arm in the U.S. government, sets ambitious but achievable targets and then lets professors, entrepreneurs, innovators sort of come up with ideas. And so you want to have… You want to have a stage gate to test ideas. You want to test more ideas. Then some of them graduate to the next stage and then you want to sort of validate those successes. And then you want policymakers to scale the ideas that work. and so I think your question was meant to it was sort of funny, the politicians need to be trained but there’s also some seriousness which is it can also be the vehicle by which we fundamentally re -imagine the way to go about it and then that brings a whole new cycle.

So that’s the positive side of ,I think, to go.

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Thank you Anish so much and now let’s get to the public questions so any audience questions yeah, you first

Audience

Hi Anish, thank you for your inputs as someone who has been as an entrepreneur, also coming from a Catholic background, researching brain and AI and has spent a lot of time in the US, last four years in US and India. Be specific to the question because we have less time here. Context to what you were saying, the need for the digital portions. So if somebody has come up with a solution for mental health, for the professionals themselves, like the nurses and the doctors what would be a good platform because right now it’s like you educate them for the need of it and then the skills and the outcome get measured. what will be a better way to scale this because the need is there we see it we work with kids also doing that and we see the same need for professionals as well right and it’s contextualized to the Indian context as well what will be the good platform to sort of take this to scale when such needs exist with all professions as well I do have a separate question on the pricing with India so as two ventures that I’ve been part of that have scaled pretty well in the US one of them has become 100 million revenue the other has taken public route in the US but they failed miserably on the pricing here so spending two years up front here we couldn’t get the same product to work at the pricing here.

So what are your suggestions for how to make pricing work for India when you have the intent to solve for India as well? So those are my two questions.

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Because if you go back and look to GDHS session on pricing of digital health you will get a detailed answer from those who build it globally so that will help you solve that problem and the other one does someone want to take an answer it?

Dr. Sarvjeet Kaur

Answering your question from the regulatory point so uh we have for the nurses we have linked 150 cne hours and we have linked it to the renewal of their registration every five years so now nurses have to mandatorily do these courses then only their license will get renewed so there’s a lot of need to have these kinds of courses there are some platforms where these courses are put free of cost inc being one of them this i got this swam so i’m sure there are a lot of opportunities uh for you to you know take up anything that works for the nurses the technical experts have to you know take a look at it to see if it’s okay and then we can take it from there.

Audience

right now it’s developed by doctors for doctors but it can certainly be i’d love to take inputs from you where to take it forward thank you

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

after this dr freddy yeah

Audience

Thank you very much uh uh my very simple question is that i am born before technology and suddenly bombarded with the last four five years you and the times are like this the fate is this that i’m from best colleges being a faculty and now join era medical colleges need faculty medicine and suddenly this institution is in a hole into ai now people like me who worked with mci and the curriculum has already been changed but believed me that nothing has changed because i actually had a audition also my question is that how are you emphasizing in future there are people who are supposed to implement ai people who are supposed to train these people in gen z now who themselves have no between so there’s a dilemma between them do you have any solution for that so that at least people who have been trained now are being trained by people who are inverted commas not trained that’s my worry

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

So i will ask around in one minute.

Zaw Ali Khan

I think there are still people far and few in between who can be those ambassadors for change. It’s just a matter of giving them the tools, being able to, you know, get them on the platform of university or digital health sciences academy so that they’re able to train or build capacity at scale. That’s the only way. Otherwise, we don’t have enough people to do it one on one or, you know, in a physical capacity. We have to use virtual tools even for that. And at the same time, I think there shouldn’t be a bar at offer, you know, a certain experience or a number of years of teaching for these kind of courses. So this has to be age agnostic, I feel.

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Rajeev, 30 seconds for you and then we have to close.

Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi

No, we have to close because we are running out of time. We have to launch also one thing. So I think answer lies in the system itself. If I just give one example, remote surgeries. The doctors who were trained 30 years ago, they were not trained on remote surgeries. Today, they are doing remote surgeries. How did they shift? So, I mean, this is something. I don’t think that these trainings and capacity building should be restricted from within the profession. Whosoever is suitable for those trainings, they should be engaged. It’s a continuous process in regulatory system. Our inspectors and drug controllers, they actually are trained into the modern, in basically approving and reviewing these medical devices also.

It was not there when they were appointed. So everybody is getting upgradation and there are systems.

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Yeah, and in our courses, we have seen 80%. 80 % of the people. are above 20 years, highest is 50 years after MBBS. So I think age is not a thing, it’s a mindset thing.

Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi

Speech speed

141 words per minute

Speech length

Bridging generational gaps and lifelong learning

Topics

Capacity development | Artificial intelligence

Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Speech speed

217 words per minute

Speech length

743 words

Speech time

204 seconds

Mindset over technology for regulators

Explanation

Gupta emphasizes that changing the mindset of drug inspectors and other health regulators is more critical than merely introducing new technology.

Evidence

“Thank you so much i think very important point that it’s more about mindset change than just technology” [8]. “Dr. Rajeev I wanted to ask you on that point only that you have drug inspectors across the country who were in the conventional you know world what are you doing for them to understand” [7].

Major discussion point

Policy and governance adaptation to technology

Topics

Capacity development | The enabling environment for digital development

Dr. Sarvjeet Kaur

Speech speed

171 words per minute

Speech length

Pricing and market adaptation for digital health in India

Topics

Financial mechanisms | Social and economic development

Dr. Suresh Yadav

Speech speed

190 words per minute

Speech length

Building a connected health ecosystem using digital/AI solutions

Topics

Social and economic development | Closing all digital divides

Zaw Ali Khan

Speech speed

122 words per minute

Speech length

Bridging generational gaps and lifelong learning

Topics

Capacity development | Closing all digital divides

Aneesh Chopra

Speech speed

173 words per minute

Speech length

668 words

Speech time

231 seconds

Innovation pipeline management & zero‑based budgeting

Explanation

Chopra advocates for adopting “innovation pipeline management” and zero‑based budgeting in government to fund outcome‑focused, technology‑driven health solutions.

Evidence

“I have coined this term innovation pipeline management in government” [96]. “zero‑based budgeting that’s changed the way we fund our government” [97]. “the politician or the policymaker is often focused on the outcome or the objective, the problem to be solved” [99].

Major discussion point

Policy and governance adaptation to technology

Topics

The enabling environment for digital development | Financial mechanisms

Audience

Speech speed

195 words per minute

Speech length

476 words

Speech time

145 seconds

Pricing mismatch between US and Indian markets

Explanation

The audience raises concern that products successful in the US fail in India due to pricing differences, seeking suggestions for adapting business models to local purchasing power.

Evidence

“So what are your suggestions for how to make pricing work for India when you have the intent to solve for India as well?” [107]. “I have been part of ventures that scaled well in the US … they failed miserably on the pricing here” [106].

Major discussion point

Pricing and market adaptation for digital health in India

Topics

Financial mechanisms | The enabling environment for digital development

Agreements

Agreement points

Technology adoption requires mindset change rather than just technical training

Speakers

– Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi
– Dr. Sarvjeet Kaur
– Zaw Ali Khan

Arguments

Arguments

Technology should be scalable in complexity and adapt to different digital maturity levels across healthcare institutions

Healthcare system fragmentation exists globally, requiring integrated ERP-like systems to connect all healthcare workers

Summary

Both speakers recognize that healthcare institutions have varying levels of digital readiness and that technology solutions must be flexible enough to accommodate this diversity while promoting integration and connectivity.

Topics

Information and communication technologies for development | Social and economic development | The enabling environment for digital development

Capacity development | Social and economic development | The enabling environment for digital development

Unexpected consensus

Arguments

Curriculum changes should include minimum requirements while allowing institutions to add modern technology courses beyond basic requirements

Integrated AI and digital health into BSc nursing curriculum in 2021 with mandatory simulation labs and faculty training programs

Technology moves with the pace that you can’t change your curriculum every now and then because by the time you go to the academic council governing board new technology has come

Summary

Raghuvanshi advocates for flexible curriculum addition beyond minimum requirements, while Dr. Kaur describes systematic mandatory integration through formal curriculum changes. Dr. Gupta expresses concern about the slow pace of formal curriculum changes versus rapid technology evolution.

Topics

Capacity development | Social and economic development | The enabling environment for digital development

Training approach for technology adoption

Speakers

– Zaw Ali Khan
– Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi

Arguments

Age should not be a barrier for technology training – capacity building should be age-agnostic and use virtual tools for scale

Continuous upgradation is systematic – professionals adapt to new technologies like remote surgeries through ongoing training

Summary

Khan emphasizes age-agnostic virtual training platforms, while Raghuvanshi focuses on systematic continuous professional development within existing frameworks and cross-professional training approaches.

Topics

Capacity development | Closing all digital divides

Unexpected differences

Faculty preparedness for AI implementation

Speakers

– Audience member
– Zaw Ali Khan
– Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Arguments

There is a training gap where people supposed to implement AI are being trained by faculty who themselves lack AI training

Age should not be a barrier for technology training – capacity building should be age-agnostic and use virtual tools for scale

80% of digital health course participants are above 20 years experience, showing age is mindset not barrier

Explanation

An unexpected disagreement emerged about whether experienced faculty can effectively teach AI technologies. The audience member expressed concern about untrained faculty teaching AI, while Khan and Gupta argued that age and experience are not barriers to technology adoption, creating tension about faculty readiness versus willingness to learn.

Topics

Capacity development | Artificial intelligence | Social and economic development

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion revealed moderate disagreements primarily around implementation approaches rather than fundamental goals. Key areas of disagreement included curriculum change mechanisms (formal vs. flexible), training methodologies (virtual vs. systematic), and faculty preparedness for emerging technologies.

Disagreement level

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Social and economic development | The enabling environment for digital development

Capacity development | Social and economic development | The enabling environment for digital development

Takeaways

Key takeaways

Healthcare workforce shortage costs 15% of global GDP (~$18 trillion), requiring urgent digital and AI solutions to multiply worker efficiency

Mindset change is more critical than technology adoption – successful digital health integration requires cultural transformation across all healthcare professions

Technology solutions must be scalable in complexity, adapting to different digital maturity levels across healthcare institutions rather than imposing uniform standards

Continuous professional development through mandatory CNE hours and virtual training platforms is more effective than frequent curriculum changes for keeping pace with technology

Age is not a barrier to technology adoption – 80% of digital health course participants have 20+ years experience, demonstrating that motivation matters more than demographics

India has unique opportunity to create global healthcare ecosystem leveraging its manpower, digital capabilities, and diaspora connections

Regulatory bodies should set minimum standards while allowing institutions flexibility to add advanced technology courses beyond basic requirements

Technology companies have dual responsibility to influence current workforce practices and co-create next generation healthcare workers

Resolutions and action items

Establish simulation centers in every district with mandatory faculty training programs for nursing competency development

Link 150 CNE hours to nursing license renewal every five years to ensure mandatory professional development

Develop one-year or two-year specialized digital health programs through partnerships with Digital Health Academy

Create national reference simulation centers (established in Gurgaon and Bhagalkot) to train faculty on digital health technologies

Implement online registration systems for nurses linked to continuing education opportunities

Encourage technology companies to partner with academies for hands-on course development and early student exposure

Adopt innovation pipeline management approach in government with stage gates for testing and scaling successful digital health solutions

Unresolved issues

Pricing models for digital health solutions in Indian market remain challenging – successful US products fail on pricing in India

Mental health support platforms for healthcare professionals lack clear scaling pathways and implementation strategies

Faculty training gap persists – experienced educators lack digital health expertise to train new generation effectively

Community pharmacy development remains stagnant due to unaddressed social structure and remuneration issues

Healthcare system fragmentation continues globally, requiring integrated ERP-like solutions that remain undeveloped

Political education on technology capabilities for healthcare transformation lacks systematic approach

Regulatory approval processes for medical devices and AI solutions need modernization but specific timelines unclear

Suggested compromises

Use virtual training tools and platforms to scale capacity building when physical one-on-one training is not feasible

Make technology training age-agnostic rather than restricting based on experience levels or years of service

Allow institutions to exceed minimum curriculum requirements by adding modern technology courses while maintaining regulatory standards

Focus on outcome-based policy making rather than process-based training when introducing new technologies

This comment reframes India’s position from a developing country trying to catch up to a potential global leader in healthcare delivery. It identifies a unique competitive advantage combining demographic dividend, digital capability, and cultural trust.

Impact

This shifted the discussion from defensive capacity building to offensive global strategy. It moved the conversation toward India as a healthcare exporter rather than just solving domestic challenges, inspiring more ambitious thinking about scale and impact.

Overall assessment

Explanation

This explores the potential for creating international healthcare networks that could address provider shortages and improve access to specialized care globally.

Disclaimer: This is not an official session record. DiploAI generates these resources from audiovisual recordings, and they are presented as-is, including potential errors. Due to logistical challenges, such as discrepancies in audio/video or transcripts, names may be misspelled. We strive for accuracy to the best of our ability.