India’s healthcare sector is at a turning point. Technology integration is becoming integral to clinical decision-making, administrative workflows and patient monitoring. This transformation is crucial but it is as much about people as it is about technology. Technology is transforming healthcare roles, skills, and systems but keeping the human touch intact remains the sector’s biggest test. Preparing India’s healthcare workforce to grow in a digital, data-driven ecosystem without losing the touch of empathy will be a real challenge.
Tech-enabled care
The healthcare job profiles are changing across hospitals, diagnostics centres and even primary care setups. Majority of tasks, once relied heavily on manual effort is now increasingly being done by intelligent systems.
Aryaman Tandon, Managing Partner, Healthcare & Lifesciences, Praxis Global Alliance observes, “Digital technologies are fundamentally reshaping healthcare roles by shifting routine and repetitive tasks toward decision support, data interpretation, and remote care.”
This evolution is not about job replacement but job reimagination. Chris George, CEO and Founder, QubeHealth, points out that digital technologies are shifting healthcare roles from repetitive, manual tasks toward oversight, interpretation, coordination, and human-tech collaboration.
“Overall, job descriptions are evolving: healthcare workers need to interact with, manage, and trust digital tools rather than simply ignore or replace them.”
Healthcare workers today must not only use digital tools but also learn to “interact with, manage, and trust” them. Automation is streamlining administrative functions, freeing doctors and nurses to focus on patients.
As Shantanu Baruah, Global Head – Life Sciences, Healthcare & Insurance, Hexaware, puts it, “Technology is a colleague that removes friction; the human still carries the responsibility.” Hospitals are moving from labourintensive workflows to insight-driven models where clinicians partner with machines rather than compete with them.
A new skills equation
With new skill requirements emerging across every level of healthcare workforce, traditional medical expertise must now be paired with digital fluency. According to Jasdeep Singh, Group CEO, SPARSH Group of Hospitals, “Healthcare professionals today must combine clinical acumen with digital literacy. Doctors are learning to interpret algorithmic outputs, validate AI-driven insights, and ensure ethical data use.”
Tandon categorises these competencies into four broad pillars: digital literacy i.e. proficiency in EHRs, telemedicine platforms, and AI-assisted diagnostic tools; data literacy i.e. understanding AI outputs, recognising algorithmic limitations, and maintaining data hygiene and privacy compliance; technical proficiency i.e. operating surgical robots, remote monitoring devices, and point-of-care diagnostic tools and human-centric skills such as empathy and ethics.
Similarly, Arindam Sen, CEO and Director, Heartnet India, underscores the importance of adaptability and cybersecurity awareness. “ Medical workers require new skills beyond clinical training, including areas of IT such as virtual consultations and real-time data management, as well as remote ECG and ICCU monitoring. Key competencies include the successful use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems, as well as telehealth platforms for remote consultations, diagnosis, and treatment. Cybersecurity awareness is also important for safeguarding sensitive patient information. Communication skills are evolving for remote consultation, which necessitates clarity and empathy via virtual channels.”
In essence, the future clinician must be as comfortable at the console as they are at the bedside — a theme echoed by many leaders across the healthcare spectrum.
Continuous learning becomes the new norm
As digitisation is more deeply integrated into the system, hospitals are realising that training cannot be a one time exercise but must be embedded into the workflow. Sushant Rabra, Partner and Head-Digital Strategy and Transformation, KPMG in India, notes that, “Forward-looking healthcare organisations are institutionalising digital learning through in-house academies, simulation labs, and collaborations with edtech partners and GCCs. The focus is on ‘learning in flow,’ helping clinicians and administrators gain digital confidence while on the job and seamlessly integrate technology into care workflows. Many organisations are now linking digital competency with career progression, signalling that digital readiness is a core part of healthcare excellence.”
Deepak Sharma, Co-founder and CEO, MedLern also highlights that organisations are embedding a culture of continuous learning and using analytics to track competencies, close skill gaps and drive accountability. The shift is clear—training is no longer a one-time exercise, but a strategic lever for improving quality, efficiency and patient outcomes. As Baruah explains, “the future-ready healthcare workforce will learn continuously, in smaller, faster cycles, embedded within their daily digital environment.”
Expanding reach to underserved India
Technology is also helping bridge the country’s deep workforce and access gaps, particularly in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Tandon points out that telemedicine and remote monitoring are “amplifying healthcare reach and productivity in underserved areas.” Digital health IDs, mobile health units, and cloud-based training platforms are allowing specialists to consult, diagnose, and even train staff remotely.
For Sen, “India faces a big healthcare gap as there are more patients in rural areas, while specialists like cardiologists and oncologists mostly work in cities, leaving rural regions with just one doctor for a large population. Technology is the game-changer here. As per the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, around 86.3 per cent of Indian households have internet access, which means mobile health apps and AI diagnostics are now reaching places doctors physically can’t.”
Masaharu Morita, Founder, NURA-AI Health Screening Centre, agrees that “AI has helped with screening, tele-medicine platforms and remote diagnostics centres which in turn has brought special support to areas with insufficient resources. Moreover, digital up-skilling of frontline staff will help them strengthen their reach and impact. Challenges such as infrastructure, literacy and data governance still exist but with the right combination of tools, training and collaboration eventually we can achieve a more capable and distributed workforce and quality care made available in every corner of the country.”
Balancing technology with empathy
Even as hospitals embrace digital transformation, the soul of healthcare — empathy — must remain intact. “Technology should amplify not overshadow the human touch in medicine. Hospitals are increasingly training clinicians to use digital tools as supports for empathy and judgment, not substitutes. While AI can analyse data, compassion and intuition remain uniquely human. A balanced approach is encouraged- one that nurtures emotional intelligence, ethical judgment, and patient communication alongside digital proficiency”, says Singh.
For Rabra, “Technology should never replace the human connection; it should reinforce it. Human-centered design principles and ethical AI governance ensure that empathy and clinical judgment remain at the heart of every digital interaction.” Baruah advocates for a “human-in-the-loop” approach where “AI can draft, summarise, and alert, but clinicians review, add context, and decide”.
Dhrubaa Ghosh, Partner, Healthcare, Management Consulting, BDO India, stresses that “High adoption rates of digital health technology are changing how health service delivery is organised. It is paramount that the focus must now shift towards upskilling the health workforce with digital skills, responsible data usage and data-driven decision-making abilities. Fair access to knowledge and skill upgrade opportunities would go a long way towards closing the skill gap, addressing the shortage of manpower and achieving universal health coverage. Policymakers need to enable the adoption of technology while maintaining the timeless human element of care-giving in order to shape a sustainable and resilient health systems.”
The policy roadmap ahead
As digitalisation accelerates, both workforce management and policy frameworks must evolve in tandem. Rabra highlights the growing need for new hybrid roles. “As healthcare becomes more digitally integrated, policy frameworks must evolve to recognise new hybrid roles, data stewardship responsibilities, and crossdomain credentialing. There’s a growing need for frameworks that recognise new job categories such as digital health coordinators and clinical data analysts. The ‘Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission’ has already laid a strong foundation, but scaling this transformation will require ongoing collaboration between policymakers, academia, and industry.”
Similarly, Sharma calls for strong data privacy norms and equitable access, while Baruah stresses the importance of clear regulatory guidance on interoperability and AI accountability.
George explains, “An increasingly digital ecosystem demands major shifts in workforce management: new roles (e.g., digital health specialist, AI-monitoring nurse), continuous reskilling, revised curricula and career paths. Policy implications include data governance, interoperability standards, equitable access and regulatory oversight for AI/automation. The European EIT Health study flagged six domains for action: education/skills, liability/regulation, data quality/governance, funding and reimbursement. In India, policy must also address digital literacy deficits, rural connectivity, and workforce shortages while designing incentives and infrastructure that support tech-enabled care rather than exacerbate disparities.”
Way forward
India’s healthcare workforce is entering an era where success will depend on how effectively people and technology work together. As Tandon puts it, the clinician’s role is shifting “from task executor to oversight and validation.” In this future, AI will assist, not replace; automation will enable, not alienate; and data will guide, not dictate.
The vision is clear: a digitally competent, empathetic, and adaptive healthcare workforce that uses technology not as a substitute for care, but as a multiplier of its impact.
Kalyani.sharma@expressindia.com
journokalyani@gmail.com