Fears that AI will replace doctors, clinicians 'largely misplaced': Union Min Anupriya Patel

New Delhi, Feb 17 (PTI) Fears that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could replace doctors and clinicians are "largely misplaced", Union Minister Anupriya Patel on Tuesday said, asserting that the technology would rather benefit the entire medical fraternity.

Addressing the AI Impact Summit 2026 in the national capital, Patel, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, asked the medical fraternity to be AI literate. She also stressed on developing cost-effective AI tools, which should be used ethically and responsibly.

The minister noted that the government has integrated AI in the entire health eco-system, from disease surveillance to prevention to diagnosis to treatment.

There has been a great amount of debate about the use of AI and what impact it is going to have on our clinicians.

"So there are a significant number of doctors and clinicians who are convinced with the strength of AI. But then there are also fears that AI might be a threat to doctors and clinicians. AI could replace, and I feel that these fears are largely misplaced. Because AI is here to augment. AI is here to assist. AI cannot replace the clinicians," she asserted.

Stating that the AI would have a positive impact, Patel said it would reduce the burden of the doctors.

"The routine, high volume tasks will be carried out by AI. And the doctors, or our specialists, can focus on the complex cases or clinical decision making," she said.

Even non-specialists, the minister said, can benefit from AI, because they would be elevated in their roles and operate at the top of their expertise.

"So there are several benefits that AI brings to our medical fraternity, and fears that AI could ever replace clinicians are not really true," Patel said.

The minister said medicine is not just a science but also an art.

"So when a treatment proceeds, healthcare thrives not just on algorithms. Healthcare thrives on human touch, on empathy, on compassion, on communication between a clinician and a patient, and this is the this human touch can never be provided by AI. It is only a clinician, it is only a doctor who can communicate with this patient and provide that compassion and empathy that is needed by a patient," she said.

Instead of threat from AI, Patel said doctors need to worry about AI literacy.

"Now our future-ready clinicians need to be AI literate... So I urge all members of the medical fraternity who are present here today to spread this message that AI cannot compete with clinicians. It can only compensate for their absence, and our doctors and our clinicians need to be AI literate," she said.

The minister said AI for India is not artificial intelligence, it is 'All Inclusive'.

"So when we speak of AI in healthcare, we just don't think in terms of the sophisticated algorithms in the promise of precision. For those of us who sit in the government, the real measure of the power of AI lies in the extent to which it is able to touch lives and the extent to which it is able to address the health inequities," she said.

Stating that health is an extremely important pillar to become a developed nation by 2047, the minister said technology will play a crucial role to meet challenges.

"India has unique challenges our vast and diverse population, rural and urban divide, and also the dual burden of non communicable as well as communicable diseases. So when we look at these unique challenges, it becomes extremely important that we make use of technology," she said.

Patel highlighted that the government has had a comprehensive technological integration in our national healthcare framework.

"Today, we have integrated AI in the entire health continuum, so from disease surveillance to prevention to diagnosis to treatment, it is everywhere, and it shows the power of AI in bringing about a transformation," she said.

The minister highlighted several examples of AI tools that the government has used for bringing about transformation and strengthening its efforts towards inclusivity in healthcare.

AI is being utilised for monitoring of digital news in as many as 13 languages and then make disease alerts.

Under the One Health Mission, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has launched an AI tool which surveys the genomes and predicts the zoonotic outbreaks before the transmission actually takes place from animals to humans.

The government has deployed the AI-enabled handheld X-rays in our intensive TB elimination efforts.

"Today in India, considering the fact that we are a very huge population, and it's a low-resource setting, so we have to look at solutions that are scalable and which are frugal, and which address the systemic gaps, instead of focusing on solutions which could be more suitable for the resource rich health settings," Patel said.

The minister also emphasised on the ethical and responsible use of the AI technology.

"For that, we need very strong regulatory frameworks in India. We have created those robust regulatory frameworks so that AI is used ethically and responsibly. We have the Indian Council of Medical Research, which has come up with guidelines on the ethical use of AI," she added. PTI KRH MJH TRB