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Day 2 of the second Health Working Group meeting under G20 India Presidency saw an important brainstorming session on citizen-centric health delivery ecosystem for universal health coverage leveraging digital health and innovation.

Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, in his inaugural address in the side event emphasised on an integrative holistic healthcare model of service delivery through comprehensive IT backbone for traditional medicine 'Ayush Grid' and by ensuring the benchmarking of AI in traditional medicine with the guidance and support of UN bodies.

Kotecha said, "There is a need to advocate the use of digital tools for not only the efficiency and outcome of healthcare system, but also to maintain medical records, exchange information and extrapolate the effectiveness of various modalities of healthcare, including but not limited to pharmaco-therapeutic interventions, traditional medicine-based approaches and other innovations. The upcoming WHO - Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India has one of the mandates to work on data analytics and technology in traditional medicine (TM). This will suffice the infusion of data and technology in TM in coming future."

The secretary also participated in the panel discussion on creation of 'Digital health ecosystem: Moving towards harmonised and efficient health-data governance frameworks'.

He spoke about the crucial aspect of digital health which is ever-increasing and ubiquitous use of artificial intelligence in healthcare, including traditional medicine.

He said there is a need to catch up with the development of benchmarks, guidelines and policies for safe, effective use of the same in health care. To ensure the benchmarking of AI in traditional medicine and the guidance and support of UN bodies - World Health Organization and International Telecommunication Union, Ministry of Ayush, is leading a topic group on traditional medicine as part of Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health (FG-AI4H).

The Ministry of Ayush, based on National Health Policy 2017, which envisaged the integral role of technology (eHealth, mHealth, Cloud, Internet of things, wearables, etc), has envisioned Ayush Grid, which is aligned with the principles of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

It is a comprehensive IT backbone for the traditional medicine sector in India and created with a vision to transform the Ayush sector to provide efficient, holistic, affordable, and quality services to all, through a secure and interoperable digital ecosystem. Ayush grid operates at four levels viz. Core Layer, National Layer, State Layer and Citizen access ensuring seamless digital connectedness between all stakeholders.

The second Health Working Group meeting under G20 India Presidency is currently underway in Panaji from April 17-19. More than 180 delegates from 19 G20 member countries, 10 invited states and 22 international organisations are participating in it. The Ministry of Ayush has set up a stall on digital health organised on the sidelines of the second meeting of HWG.