By Ayushi Agarwal
New Delhi, December 8 (ANI) — Norway’s Health and Care Services Minister Jan Christian Vestre said his government wants to align its health priorities with India’s rapidly evolving digital health ecosystem, praising India’s work on digital infrastructure, population-scale service delivery and artificial intelligence as “nothing short of incredible.”
In an interview with ANI, Vestre highlighted Indian initiatives such as Ayushman Bharat, the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) and the Make in India programme for health innovation as examples of how digitalisation is expanding equitable access to healthcare. He described India’s ability to build a digital public infrastructure that serves over a billion people as a model that many countries, including Norway, should study.
Vestre noted India’s early adoption of AI-driven language tools to bridge linguistic divides in healthcare and said this approach aligns with Norway’s own investments in AI research and efforts to make its benefits widely accessible. “As Health Minister, I am particularly interested in how we can use AI to accelerate diagnostics, treatments and patient care,” he said.
He praised the long-standing collaboration between India and Norway on digital public goods and welcomed India’s work to make these tools available globally. Vestre said Norway intends to deepen cooperation with a strong digital focus and that technical teams from both countries will work out concrete joint projects.
Vestre’s visit included discussions with India’s Health Minister J.P. Nadda and participation in the Bengaluru Tech Summit. The trip comes after the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) entered into force on October 1 and was described as a starting point for new cooperation in response to changing disease patterns, climate impacts, demographic shifts and rapid technological advances.
Reaffirming Norway’s support for universal health coverage and primary healthcare, Vestre said these priorities are shared in G20 deliberations and at the World Health Organization, where Norway currently serves on the Executive Board. Looking ahead five to ten years, he expressed hope that the bilateral partnership will grow stronger as new technologies reshape health service delivery, allowing the two countries to learn from one another despite their differences in size.
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