What happened

The National Health Authority (NHA), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, organised a BRICS side event titled “From Digital Health Records to AI-Enabled Healthcare: Strengthening the Continuum of Care Through Interoperable Data Infrastructure and Responsible Artificial Intelligence” as part of the 16th BRICS Health Ministers’ Meeting. Policymakers, technical experts and health leaders from BRICS countries deliberated on how interoperable digital health infrastructure and responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) can improve seamless, patient-centric healthcare across levels of care.

Background and earlier position

The event discussion was anchored in the BRICS Health Track Technical Working Group 4 (TWG-4) Compendium on Continuum of Care. The compendium frames continuity of care as coordinated and uninterrupted delivery across levels of care, healthcare providers and BRICS member states. Continuity of care spans prevention and diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and long-term follow-up, and is positioned as central to progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

What changed now

The NHA side event consolidated continuity-of-care goals around practical requirements for interoperable digital public infrastructure and responsible AI deployment. NHA’s CEO presented a framework linking interoperable digital public infrastructure (using open standards), secure consent-based data exchange, and responsible AI with governance, validation mechanisms and cybersecurity requirements. A panel discussion then added international implementation experiences and reinforced the link between responsible AI and high-quality interoperable data, locally validated evidence, and health-system readiness.

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