Steps taken to use AI in Cancer Screening

Under the aegis of the India AI Mission, an initiative led by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Cancer AI & Technology Challenge (CATCH) Grant Program has been launched in partnership with the National Cancer Grid (NCG). This programme invites collaborative proposals from clinical institutions and technology innovators for the development, pilot testing and validation of AI-based solutions across the cancer care continuum, including AI-enabled screening and diagnostics. Selected projects receive milestone-based pilot funding of up to ₹50 lakh, with opportunities for additional scale-up support upto ₹1 crore for wider deployment, subject to demonstrated clinical readiness.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched the 'Strategy for AI in Healthcare in India' (SAHI) and the 'Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI' (BODH) on 17th February 2026 during the India AI impact summit. SAHI is a national guidance framework to enable the safe, ethical, evidence-based, responsible and inclusive adoption of artificial intelligence across India's healthcare system. 'Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI' (BODH) provides a structured mechanism for testing and benchmarking AI solutions before deployment at scale. SAHI has been developed after intensive consultation with all the major stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem, including acedemia. Further, BODH has been developed in partnership with Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) provides a sandbox environment and integration toolkits that allow health technology developers to integrate their applications/ software, including AI screening tools.

The National NCD Portal developed under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NPNCD) provides a comprehensive digital platform for population enumeration, risk assessment, screening, referrals and continuum of care for common NCDs, including cancers such as breast, cervical and oral. The portal integrates mobile and web apps for frontline health workers (ASHA/ANM) and facility level staff, enabling data capture and follow-up across Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs) and District Hospitals. It is linked with ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) IDs and supports standardized electronic health records, streamlined referrals and real time monitoring of screening and outcomes across the health system.

The details of SPIP Approvals for National Programme for Non Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD) under NHM during the period of F.Y. 2021-22 to 2025-26 are as under :-

The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Prataprao Jadhav stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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