BHASHINI, JIPMER explore multilingual AI to bridge healthcare language barriers
A technical workshop examined voice assistants, clinical documentation and patient guidance, with any future integration subject to clinical validation, institutional approval and data safeguards.
A technical workshop held at JIPMER on October 23 demonstrated BHASHINI’s language technologies and examined potential healthcare applications.
PUDUCHERRY: The Digital India BHASHINI Division and JIPMER have explored the use of multilingual artificial intelligence to improve communication between healthcare professionals and patients across language barriers.
A technical workshop held at JIPMER on October 23 demonstrated BHASHINI’s language technologies and examined potential healthcare applications, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in a statement on October 24.
The programme, themed “Building Health BHASHINI: Scaling Multilingual AI for Inclusive Healthcare,” brought together doctors, faculty, nursing and pharmacy staff, students and technical teams.
Discussions covered ambient clinical scribing, which assists with documenting consultations, hospital voice assistants, multilingual patient guidance and pharmacy-related information. Participants also examined medical terminology and glossary development, medical education, research and community outreach.
These were exploratory use cases. Any integration would depend on technical feasibility, clinical validation, institutional requirements and appropriate privacy and security safeguards, the statement said.
BHASHINI Division CEO Amitabh Nag said relevant language data and healthcare expertise were essential to developing solutions suited to Indian languages and clinical settings. AI should assist healthcare professionals and support their work while retaining human judgement, he said.
He encouraged JIPMER’s multidisciplinary teams to identify practical communication challenges and contribute domain knowledge to help customise potential applications.
Shailendra Pal Singh, Senior General Manager at the division, presented BHASHINI’s platform capabilities, including application programming interfaces and integration tools for developing multilingual services.
Demonstrations covered voice-enabled interactions, translation, digital accessibility and language resource development, with discussions on their suitability for patient and staff communication.
Nag and the BHASHINI team also met JIPMER Director Dr Vir Singh Negi to discuss possible applications in patient care, medical education and biomedical research.
Further engagement could focus on selecting suitable use cases and assessing technical and data requirements.
