India to Launch Secure Health Data Environment for Research and Responsible AI

India is set to introduce a new Secure Data Environment (SDE) aimed at enabling controlled use of health data for research, programme planning and responsible artificial intelligence applications.

The initiative is among several digital-health measures being launched around Arogya Manthan 2026, which marks eight years of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and five years of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). The National Health Authority is organising the event in New Delhi.

The SDE has been developed by the National Health Authority with support from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. It is designed as a governed environment where approved entities can analyse health data while incorporating safeguards for personal information.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, authorised users will be able to work with de-identified data or execute code inside an isolated NHA environment. The outputs would undergo review before being released.

The approach is intended to make health data more useful for research without simply making large datasets openly accessible. Potential applications include health research, programme evaluation, outcome analysis and responsible AI innovation.

The development comes as India’s digital health ecosystem continues to expand. As of September 1, 2026, more than 97.8 crore Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts, or ABHAs, had been created, while more than 121 crore health records had been linked through the ABDM ecosystem.

More than 5.6 lakh health facilities and 11 lakh healthcare professionals were also registered on the digital health platform, according to the Health Ministry.

Arogya Manthan 2026 is also introducing other digital-health initiatives, including a National Healthcare Providers Registry mobile application, an implementation guide for the National Health Claims Exchange and a framework for auto-adjudication of claims under AB PM-JAY.

The Secure Data Environment is particularly significant because healthcare increasingly depends on large datasets for understanding disease patterns, evaluating programmes and developing digital tools. At the same time, the use of sensitive medical information requires safeguards around privacy, access and responsible data use.

The government’s approach places the emphasis on controlled access rather than unrestricted distribution of health information.

India is also developing other digital-health standards and tools, including the Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare for India, the Benchmarking Open Data Platform in Health AI and the Bharat Health Terminology Service.

Together, these initiatives indicate a broader push towards an interoperable digital-health ecosystem in which healthcare information can support research and service delivery while remaining subject to governance mechanisms.

Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare / Press Information Bureau.