India possesses one of the world’s oldest and richest treasuries of health knowledge, collectively known as Ayush: Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa‑Rigpa, and Homeopathy. Drawing upon millennia of wisdom, these indigenous sciences stand as globally recognized, effective systems of healthcare that bridge the knowledge of ancient times with the necessities of modern well‑being. The increasing integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare marks a pivotal turning point in India’s quest to bridge this gap but building scalable AI solutions to achieve large‑scale social impact significantly on vast amounts of structured datasets. These datasets, in part, are being generated by key government platforms that aim to revolutionize healthcare delivery, research and data‑driven decision‑making: Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in 2021 and platforms like the Ayush Grid and the Ayush Health Information Management System, launched by the Ministry of Ayush (MoA) in 2018 form the comprehensive information technology foundation for traditional medicine. However, as healthcare data contain sensitive personally identifiable information, informational privacy becomes the cornerstone of safe and trusted AI development. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act), 2023, establishes India’s personal data governance framework. This paper illustrates how the DPDP Act instills a privacy‑by‑design approach for India’s digital health ecosystem, offering actionable recommendations for augmenting ecosystem‑wide compliance and underscoring the imperative to integrate safe and trusted AI principles throughout the digital health innovation lifecycle.

Keywords

Ayush health information management system, Ayurveda, Ayush Grid, Data governance, Digital personal data protection act, Privacy, Safe and Trusted Artificial Intelligence

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