New Delhi: India opened the Regional Open Digital Health Summit 2025 (RODHS 2025) in New Delhi on Wednesday, bringing together government leaders, global health organisations and digital innovators from across South-East Asia to chart the future of interoperable, equitable and resilient digital health systems.
The three-day summit, organised jointly by the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics & IT, the National Health Authority (NHA), WHO SEARO, and UNICEF, features participation from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal, the Maldives and other regional partners. The discussions centre on how Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), open standards and emerging technologies—including Generative AI—can accelerate Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Calls for Collaboration and Interoperability
Opening the summit, speakers stressed that collaboration between governments, development partners and technology ecosystems is essential to building sustainable digital health systems.
Rajnish Kumar, COO of NeGD, said India’s digital health architecture must be underpinned by a joint governance framework between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Electronics & IT. He said established national platforms—ABDM, CoWIN, Aadhaar and UPI—must remain secure, interoperable and trusted to ensure long-term resilience.
Manoj Jhalani, Director for UHC and Health Systems at WHO SEARO, said the summit is designed to strengthen regional technical capabilities, enabling countries to build scalable, interoperable platforms. “Trust, consistency and interoperability are the bedrock for adoption,” he said.
UNICEF India Deputy Representative Arjan de Wagt urged the region to place communities, health workers and vulnerable children at the centre of digital transformation. “Digital health offers a major opportunity to strengthen resilience—if done thoughtfully and equitably,” he said.
Sunil Kumar Barnwal, CEO of the National Health Authority, highlighted India’s success in building DPI-based solutions. “Aadhaar, UPI, CoWIN and ABDM show how scalable digital public goods can transform societies,” he noted.
Punya Salila Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said health outcomes depend on interlinked social and developmental sectors. She said integrating digital platforms across ministries is crucial to realising the National Digital Health Blueprint (2019) and the National Health Policy (2017).
Scaling Digital Health Through Open Standards
A plenary session featuring Nand Kumarum (CEO, NeGD), Kiran Gopal Vaska (ABDM – NHA), Meridith Dyson (UNICEF), and Karthik Adapa (WHO SEARO) underscored the shift from pilot projects to full-scale digital health ecosystems. Speakers agreed that open standards, full-stack frameworks and DPIs are essential to equitable scaling of digital health across the Global South.
India’s CoWIN and ABDM were highlighted as landmark DPI models, while UNICEF stressed child-rights protections and data privacy.
Day One Sessions: Key Themes and Outcomes
Session 2: Foundational DPIs in Health Ecosystems
Experts from the World Economic Forum, UIDAI, NPCI, ONDC and NeGD—alongside officials from Thailand, Maldives and Nepal—discussed how digital identity, payments, data exchange systems and registries form the backbone of a resilient digital health ecosystem. They concluded that digital success must be measured by improved outcomes, reduced costs and empowered citizens.
Session 3: FHIR Standards and Regional Interoperability
Representatives from HL7 India, CDAC Pune, Swasth Alliance, Bangladesh DGHS and Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health discussed how the FHIR standard is emerging as the global language of health data exchange. They emphasised the need for ecosystem-wide governance, skilled technical workforces and sustained investments to ensure long-term, interoperable adoption.
Session 4: Regional Perspectives on Health Sector DPI
Experts from India, Sri Lanka and Thailand showcased how countries with varying levels of digital maturity are building DPI-based health systems. Despite contextual differences, all prioritised privacy, governance, interoperability and data-driven innovation.
Session 5: Generative AI for Global Health
Speakers from India, Nepal, Thailand and international agencies discussed how GenAI can strengthen equity in public health by addressing data fragmentation. They agreed that robust data infrastructure and interoperability frameworks are prerequisites for responsible deployment of AI-driven care.
Session 6: Demonstrations of GenAI Use Cases
Technology innovators—including Ekacare, Google, NiramAI Health Analytix, Sunoh.AI and IIT Delhi—presented live demonstrations of AI applications such as automated clinical documentation, multilingual patient engagement tools, early breast cancer detection through thermal imaging, and next-generation diagnostic platforms.
South-East Asia Signals Strong Commitment to Digital Health
The first day of RODHS 2025 set a collaborative and forward-looking tone, with leaders and experts emphasising open standards, interoperability, equity and resilient digital infrastructure as essential building blocks for Universal Health Coverage.
The summit continues with further regional deliberations on digital health governance, privacy, Digital Public Goods, and scalable GenAI solutions for public health.
