New Delhi, Nov 22 : Vikram Pagaria, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) Director, National Health Authority (NHA), said on Saturday that technology is essential to achieving universal health coverage in India.

He was speaking at the Regional Open Digital Health Summit 2025 in the national capital.

The three-day event brought together leaders from government departments and experts from international organisations and the health technology sector to put in motion a framework for Digital Health and artificial intelligence (AI) collaboration across the South-East Asia region.

Pagaria focused on the importance of digital health as an investment.

"Digital health is an investment, not a cost, and is essential in achieving universal health coverage," he said.

He underscored technology's potential to overcome critical challenges -- such as doctor shortages -- and reach underserved rural communities, the NHA official said.

"Technology alone does not equal transformation. True impact comes from addressing real-world needs, empowering frontline workers, protecting rights, and ensuring equity," said Meredith Dyson, Regional Health Specialist, Health Systems Strengthening, UNICEF.

She underlined the importance of interoperability by design and country-specific blueprints aligned with Digital Public Infrastructure principles.

Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and CEO, IndiaAI Mission, called for building a safe, inclusive, and globally relevant AI-enabled health system through collaboration between government, states, hospitals, technologists, academia, World Health Organisation, and the Global South.

Karthik Adapa, Regional Advisor for Digital Health, World Health Organisation South-East Asia Region, emphasised the distinction between integration and interoperability.

He highlighted essential components of a robust digital health system: infrastructure, Digital Public Infrastructures, applications, governance, and capacity building.

The experts also deliberated a sustainable financing model as a critical pre-requisite for digital health transformation, especially in the face of shrinking fiscal space, rising health costs, and declining global aid flows.

India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Thailand, and Timor-Leste list common challenges like fragmented financing channels, donor dependence, and insufficient long-term budgeting that threaten to undermine digital health progress.

/IANS