Hyderabad: Telangana is spearheading a transformative shift in healthcare through artificial intelligence, positioning itself as a national leader in tech-driven medical innovation, said State IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu last week.
Speaking at the international conference on ‘AI in Healthcare: Revolutionising Care & Enhancing Lives,’ hosted by Yashoda Hospitals in Hyderabad, the minister highlighted Telangana’s emerging dominance in the AI-healthcare landscape.
“We are home to one decacorn, four unicorns and three soonicorns in healthcare—more than any other state in the country,” he said, underscoring the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Telangana currently houses over 900 AI-focused startups and boasts a talent pool of more than two lakh AI engineers.
Sridhar Babu noted that AI has moved beyond theoretical promise to become a powerful force actively reshaping the entire healthcare value chain, from early diagnostics and robotic-assisted surgery to accelerating drug discovery and reaching underserved rural populations.
“Platforms like this are essential to build a future-ready, tech-enabled and inclusive healthcare system. Telangana is committed to driving the next wave of healthcare innovation,” he added.
The conference drew more than 1,000 participants from India and abroad, including healthcare professionals, policymakers, researchers, and AI specialists. Discussions centred on how emerging technologies can be used to deliver more compassionate, transparent, and effective patient care.
Delivering the keynote address, Dr. Michael D. Howell, Chief Clinical Officer at Google, emphasised that AI should be embedded in healthcare decisions with empathy and responsibility.
“Drug discovery timelines that once spanned over a decade and cost millions of dollars can now be compressed into months. AI can process immense datasets, ranging from genomics to clinical trials, to offer faster, more tailored treatments,” he noted.
