Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology Jitendra Singh has emphasised the critical need for ethical frameworks in health related AI applications, while inaugurating BharatGen’s Param-2, a next generation indigenous large language model optimised for healthcare, public health surveillance, and medical research. The launch underscores India’s push for sovereign AI capabilities that prioritise patient safety, data privacy, bias mitigation, and equitable access in clinical and public health contexts.
Glimpse:
Speaking at the launch event on January 27, 2026, Minister Singh highlighted that AI in healthcare must be “trustworthy, transparent, and inclusive” to avoid exacerbating inequalities or compromising patient outcomes. Param-2, developed under the BharatGen initiative, is fine tuned on vast Indian medical corpora and multilingual datasets, enabling superior performance in Hindi, regional languages, and domain specific tasks such as clinical note summarisation, diagnostic reasoning support, public health query resolution, and pharmacovigilance analysis. The model is now available for pilot deployment in select ICMR and AIIMS projects.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh has called for robust ethical guardrails in AI-driven healthcare solutions as he formally launched Param-2, the latest flagship large language model developed under India’s BharatGen initiative. The event, held in New Delhi on January 27, 2026, brought together senior officials from the Ministry of Science & Technology, Department of Biotechnology, ICMR, AIIMS, and leading academic and industry partners.
In his address, Minister Singh stressed that while AI holds immense promise for diagnostics, drug discovery, public health surveillance, and clinical decision support, its deployment in healthcare carries unique risks misdiagnosis, algorithmic bias against underserved populations, privacy breaches, and erosion of trust between patients and providers. He reiterated the government’s commitment to “AI for All” under the IndiaAI Mission, insisting that innovation must be matched by strong governance, transparency, explainability, and inclusive design that reflects India’s socio cultural and linguistic diversity.
Param-2, the second major release in the BharatGen series, has been specifically optimised for healthcare and life sciences applications. Built on a massive indigenous training corpus that includes Indian medical textbooks, clinical guidelines, ICMR reports, AYUSH literature, and anonymised real-world health data, the model demonstrates superior performance in Hindi, regional languages, and domain-specific reasoning compared to global open models. Key capabilities include:
- Accurate clinical note summarisation and discharge summary generation
- Diagnostic reasoning support with traceable evidence from Indian guidelines
- Public health query resolution (e.g., outbreak trends, vaccination schedules, disease surveillance)
- Pharmacovigilance signal detection from adverse event reports
- Multilingual patient education and risk communication
Minister Jitendra Singh emphasised: “AI in healthcare is not just about speed and scale it is about trust and equity. Param-2 shows India can build sovereign, responsible AI that serves our people while upholding the highest ethical standards.”
The launch aligns with India’s broader vision of becoming a global leader in ethical and inclusive AI, particularly in high-stakes domains such as healthcare. The government has committed additional funding to expand BharatGen’s healthcare vertical, including fine tuning for regional disease patterns, rare diseases, and AYUSH-integrated care.
“AI must never become a black box that puts patient safety at risk. Param-2 is designed to be transparent, accountable, and deeply rooted in Indian healthcare realities ensuring technology serves humanity, not the other way around.”
By
HB Team
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