Ministry of Ayush partners with Digital India BHASHINI to Expand Ayush Healthcare Access

In a major push toward inclusive digital healthcare and language-driven AI innovation, the Ministry of Ayush has signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to expand multilingual access to India’s traditional healthcare systems using advanced artificial intelligence technologies.

The partnership, launched under the initiative titled:

“BHASHINI Rajyam – A BHASHINI Sahayogi Program”

aims to accelerate the transcription, translation, digitisation, and dissemination of Ayush knowledge systems across multiple Indian languages through AI-powered language technologies and digital public infrastructure.

Officials say the collaboration could significantly transform citizen access to traditional healthcare services by overcoming language barriers and expanding digital inclusion nationwide.

Ayush Digital Platforms to Be Available in 22 Indian Languages

As part of the initiative, the Ministry of Ayush plans to integrate the BHASHINI Platform — India’s National Language Digital Public Infrastructure — into various digital systems developed under the Ayush Grid programme.

The Ministry said several Ayush portals, applications, and AI-enabled solutions are now proposed to be made available in all 22 scheduled languages recognised under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

The move is expected to greatly improve accessibility for millions of citizens, particularly in rural and linguistically diverse regions where access to healthcare information in local languages remains limited.

The Ayush Grid initiative currently supports multiple sectors including:

• Healthcare delivery

• Capacity building

• Research

• Drug administration

• Digital wellness services

• Citizen engagement platforms

AI Systems to Support Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani and Other Traditional Medicine Systems

The collaboration will focus on building advanced multilingual AI ecosystems for all major Ayush disciplines, including:

• Ayurveda

• Yoga & Naturopathy

• Unani

• Siddha

• Sowa-Rigpa

• Homoeopathy

According to officials, the partnership will support:

• AI-powered translation systems

• Speech recognition technologies

• Voice-enabled healthcare platforms

• Domain-specific healthcare terminology systems

• Multilingual healthcare datasets

• Contextual AI models for wellness communication

Experts say the initiative could become one of the world’s largest multilingual healthcare AI deployments linked to traditional medicine systems.

Government Says Language Inclusion Critical for Healthcare Access

Speaking during the MoU signing ceremony, Ayush Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha stressed that India’s traditional healthcare knowledge carries deep civilisational and cultural value that must become accessible in every Indian language.

“Ayush systems of medicine carry immense civilisational knowledge and cultural depth,” Kotecha said.

“Ensuring that this knowledge becomes accessible in every Indian language is essential for inclusive healthcare delivery and public outreach.”

He said the collaboration aims to:

• Strengthen multilingual healthcare systems

• Build future-ready AI tools

• Improve public outreach

• Remove linguistic barriers in healthcare access

AI-Powered Healthcare Solutions Demonstrated

During the event, the Digital India BHASHINI Division demonstrated several advanced AI-based healthcare and citizen-service applications designed to improve digital inclusion and accessibility.

Key demonstrations included:

• AI-enabled doctor-patient interaction systems

• Multilingual speech-based prescription generation

• Real-time meeting transcription and Minutes generation through “Shrutlekh”

• Voice-based CV-building tools for blue-collar employment support

• AI tools for digitisation and preservation of ancient manuscripts

The multilingual doctor-patient interaction platform attracted particular attention for its ability to generate prescriptions using speech interfaces in different Indian languages.

Officials said such systems could significantly improve healthcare accessibility at the grassroots level, especially in rural communities with limited English or Hindi proficiency.

Ministry Highlights Citizen-Centric Digital Healthcare Vision

Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Ayush, Dr Kavita Jain, said the Ministry has consistently prioritised the use of digital technologies to improve healthcare accessibility and service delivery.

“The multilingual AI solutions demonstrated by BHASHINI, particularly doctor-patient interaction systems capable of generating prescriptions, reflect the transformative potential of technology in strengthening healthcare accessibility at the grassroots level,” she said.

She described the partnership as an important step toward creating:

• Inclusive healthcare ecosystems

• Citizen-centric digital platforms

• Language-accessible health services

• Technology-enabled wellness systems

BHASHINI Positioned as Key Pillar of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure

BHASHINI has emerged as a central component of India’s broader Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) strategy aimed at ensuring equitable access to digital services across linguistic and socio-economic barriers.

CEO of the Digital India BHASHINI Division, Shri Amitabh Nag, said language-inclusive AI systems are essential for democratising access to digital public services.

“Through this collaboration with the Ministry of Ayush, we aim to build multilingual and voice-enabled healthcare ecosystems capable of supporting citizens in their preferred languages while strengthening India’s larger Digital Public Infrastructure vision,” Nag said.

NAMASTE Portal to Support AI Terminology Development

The partnership will also explore the use of the NAMASTE Portal — India’s digital repository for standardised Ayush terminologies — to support:

• Glossary development

• Domain-specific AI language models

• Healthcare terminology systems

• Multilingual knowledge databases

Officials say this could help standardise technical healthcare vocabulary across Indian languages while improving the accuracy of AI-powered medical communication systems.

India Expanding AI Use in Public Healthcare

The collaboration reflects India’s growing push to integrate artificial intelligence, digital platforms, and language technologies into public service delivery.

The Government has increasingly focused on:

• AI-enabled healthcare

• Digital inclusion

• Multilingual governance

• Public sector innovation

• Citizen-centric digital infrastructure

Analysts say the Ayush-BHASHINI collaboration could become a globally significant model for combining:

• Traditional healthcare systems

• AI-driven language technologies

• Public digital infrastructure

• Multilingual healthcare access

The initiative is also expected to strengthen India’s efforts to preserve and modernise traditional knowledge systems while expanding their accessibility to future generations through advanced digital tools.