SKIMS to host pre-summit for India AI Impact Summit 2026 on Jan 22

Srinagar, Jan 20: Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) would host the official pre-summit Event of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 on Thursday, themed ‘Transforming Healthcare Through Responsible Artificial Intelligence.’ A statement of SKIMS issued here said that the event would be held at SKIMS, Soura, and would be conducted as the SKIMS Artificial Intelligence Summit 2026.

The summit marks the first dedicated AI in healthcare conclave in Jammu and Kashmir and has been officially affiliated and approved by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, under the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 framework.

Speaking about the upcoming event, Director SKIMS and Ex-Officio Secretary to the Government, Prof Muhammad Ashraf Ganie, said the pre-summit would serve as a critical platform to deliberate on the ethical, safe and impactful integration of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare. He said the discussions would focus on patient safety, accountability, transparency and building public trust in emerging technologies.

The event is expected to bring together policymakers, clinicians, healthcare professionals, researchers and technology experts to explore how responsible AI can strengthen healthcare delivery systems, improve patient outcomes and create future-ready health infrastructure.

The summit is being organised by the Skill Development Unit, Centre of One Health SKIMS, in collaboration with DataLEADS and the Multidisciplinary Research Unit (MRU), SKIMS. Key thematic areas of discussion will include the role of Artificial Intelligence in enhancing diagnostics, improving patient safety, strengthening biomedical research, streamlining hospital operations, and ensuring ethical governance, privacy and data protection.

Programme highlights include plenary panel discussions on AI in clinical medicine, diagnostics, hospital management and medical education; panel deliberations on data privacy and ethical AI governance; a dedicated session on responsible AI use in hospitals; hands-on workshops to enhance AI preparedness among healthcare professionals; exposure to emerging AI-driven health technologies; and opportunities for academic–industry collaboration, with a special focus on SKIMS and Kashmir-specific AI solutions.

The summit also aims to identify region-specific operational challenges and explore pilot AI solutions to improve healthcare delivery, including triage optimisation, ICU monitoring, billing automation, bed management and hospital workflow optimisation.

The event aligns with major national initiatives such as the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), Digital India and the IndiaAI Mission, and will see national and international participation.

The summit would be supported by the Information Technology Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, and the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) as a partnering institution.

Prof Digamber Behera, Padma Shri awardee and President of NAMS, would attend the summit. Other eminent speakers include experts from ICMR, AIIMS New Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Mandi, KMMS (UK), PwC India, Denmark, DataLEADS, and other leading institutions. Given that healthcare is among the most sensitive and high-impact domains for AI deployment, organisers said the sector requires strong ethical safeguards, contextual adaptation and robust governance frameworks. J&K, with its unique geographic and demographic challenges, offers an important setting to explore region-specific AI use cases aligned with national priorities.

The SKIMS Artificial Intelligence Summit 2026 has been conceived as a sector-focused, evidence-driven pre-summit initiative to generate healthcare-specific insights and policy inputs, identify operational gaps and propose scalable AI solutions for institutions like SKIMS and the wider healthcare ecosystem.

The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 is a flagship initiative of the Government of India aimed at shaping the country’s AI trajectory in alignment with national development goals, ethical governance and public good outcomes. As an officially affiliated pre-summit event, the SKIMS AI Summit 2026 would contribute healthcare-specific perspectives to national deliberations and support translation of the national AI vision into sector- and institution-level action.

Healthcare professionals, researchers, innovators and allied stakeholders have been encouraged to participate in the summit and be part of the national dialogue shaping the future of healthcare in India.