Artificial Intelligence (AI is increasingly becoming a core capability area in each profession and every sector – especially as demand is gradually shifting towards more senior and specialised talent amongst qualified professionals sought across the globe. Hence, many Indian medical educators believe that AI should also be integrated as an essential medical literacy in the country’s medical colleges. Integrating AI into the MBBS curriculum essentially equips future doctors with the necessary competencies to use digital health tools safely and effectively. Teaching medical students how to evaluate AI-generated medical literature critically is vital and imperative too.
In India, the application of AI in the healthcare sector has increased due to rapid digitisation and integration of computer science in all fields. Thus, including AI in the medical college curriculum and collaboration with faculties of computer science can augment the knowledge of medical students about AI at the graduate level for better application in the real world. This will help the medical profession to prepare its younger fraternity for the future in AI.
AI is popularly known as a branch of computer technology that deals with the design and development of intelligent machines through mathematical calculations to mimic the cognitive function of humans. In India, a student in high school must choose medical stream subjects like biology, physics and chemistry to get admission in medical colleges. Mathematics and computer science subjects are usually not chosen by these students aspiring to become doctors. Academicians in India’s medical field believe that present-day clinicians and budding doctors need to be trained in AI technologies. Since the existing medical curriculum of India does not focus much on AI subjects, reforms are required to integrate AI strategically across different stages of MBBS training. This will also result in the participation of clinicians in the development of AI tools.
“In India, AI in MBBS curriculum should be introduced certainly in a step-wise manner,” says Nitin Thakare, a well-known academician & chief secretary, ‘MVP Samaj’, a 112-year-old institution that operates Maharashtra’s premier medical school, Dr Vasantrao Pawar Medical College, Hospital & Research Centre. “Basic digital literacy should be taught to the medical students in early years of their studies and education on AI’s clinical applications should be imparted in later years. The focus of AI studies for MBBS students should be primarily on augmented intelligence”. Medical students should become AI-literate clinicians as proper use of AI can aid early diagnosis, support triage, provide personalised care and enable cost-effective healthcare delivery, he adds.
AI as a subject
AI is no longer a distant technology. It has already entered diagnosis, radiology, pathology, ICU monitoring, telemedicine, hospital administration, public health surveillance, medical records, mediclaim insurance processes and medical communications. “Therefore, the MBBS curriculum in our country must include AI studies as a structured, practical and ethically guided subject,” Thakare argues.
Several challenges, however, need to be addressed before AI can be effectively integrated into undergraduate medical education in India, affirms Sandhya Khadse, Maharashtra’s leading paediatrician, pioneer of India’s first ‘Human Milk Collection Van’ & dean, MGM Medical College. “Faculty development remains essential, as many medical teachers have limited formal exposure to AI and digital medicine,” she contends. “Medical colleges will require access to digital learning resources and inter-disciplinary collaboration to support teaching.
Curriculum planners must also ensure that AI education does not reduce emphasis on traditional clinical competencies. Bedside examination, communication skills, professionalism, empathy, ethical reasoning and clinical judgement remain the foundation of medical practice. AI should enhance and not replace these essential skills.” She added that AI is transforming healthcare and will increasingly become part of routine clinical practice. Nevertheless, AI cannot replace the essential human qualities of medicine, such as compassion, professionalism, ethical reasoning, communication and sound clinical judgement.
For MBBS students, AI education should mainly focus on understanding the clinical applications, benefits, limitations and ethical implications of AI rather than technical programming. Integrating AI literacy into the undergraduate MBBS curriculum will certainly prepare future Indian physicians to work confidently with AI-enabled technologies while maintaining high standards of patient-centred care. Such an approach will undoubtedly ensure that technological innovation strengthens, rather than replaces, the art and science of medicine.
Navnit Bodar, professor & COO, Shri KD Parvadiya Multi-Specialty Hospital, India’s leading healthcare institute, remarks that every aspiring doctor in India will sooner or later use an AI-aided tool to read a CT scan report faster, to flag a rare disease or manage a busy outdoor patient department. “If a young doctor does not understand even the basics of how AI-aided machines work, they will either trust them blindly or reject them out of fear,” he adds. “Which is why it makes sense for MBBS students in India to learn AI as a subject. What MBBS students of India really need is to understand how AI helps, where it can go wrong and why a doctor’s judgment still matters more than any AI machine”.
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), an autonomous body under the Government of India’s Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, has introduced an online training program centred on AI in medical education to highlight the increasing significance of this field. The course developed by NBEMS imparts basic training in AI applications for clinical practice, diagnostics, decision-making, research and medical teaching, as AI can help move healthcare from reactive treatment to preventive care.
Mangaluru’s Kasturba Medical College (KMC) has established the department for AI in healthcare to lead innovation in patient care, research, education and healthcare management through responsible and real-world AI applications. Integrating subjects like AI into the MBBS curriculum in India could offer considerable advantages, feels B. Unnikrishnan, dean, KMC. “As AI is transforming healthcare through improvements in diagnostics, treatment planning, medical imaging and personalised medicine, familiarising future medical professionals with AI tools and concepts can greatly enhance their expertise. It is crucial to understand that AI will serve to empower healthcare providers and not replace them”.
Integrating AI
AI facilitates formative and summative assessments, provides real-time feedback, and promotes individualised learning strategies for medical students. Clinical simulation environments allow medical students to practice clinical reasoning and learn from their errors in a low-pressure setting. The integration of AI into medical education enhances accessibility, particularly in remote or resource-limited regions, by supporting distance learning.
Academicians believe that a phased approach to integration of AI subjects in the MBBS curriculum in Indian medical colleges would certainly be a strategic move of the country’s education policymakers. The demand for AI in India’s healthcare sector is massive, driven by an acute shortage of medical specialists, enormous patient loads in public clinics and the necessity to reduce healthcare costs. Instead of replacing doctors, AI is rapidly being adopted as a vital support tool to enhance efficiency and bridge vast resource gaps.
AI education is vital for MBBS students in India to bridge the widening gap between traditional textbooks and modern, data-driven healthcare. Integrating AI literacy ensures future doctors can effectively combat the heavy patient burdens in India, streamline self-directed learning, and navigate ethical, data-privacy, and diagnostic challenges. India has already adopted ‘Competency-Based Medical Education’ for MBBS studies by emphasising professionalism, ethics, communication skills and lifelong learning.
Incorporating AI literacy within this framework will represent a natural progression in preparing future physicians for modern healthcare. The government of India’s National Medical Commission could consider developing competency-based learning objectives related to AI, including digital health, clinical decision-support systems, ethical use of AI, patient safety and critical appraisal of AI-generated information. Standardised teaching resources, faculty development programmes and assessment strategies could support uniform implementation across medical colleges. A gradual, clinically oriented approach would allow AI education to complement existing competencies without increasing unnecessary curriculum burden. Teaching methods in the MBBS curriculum should include AI simulation exercises and demonstrations of AI-enabled clinical tools.