ICMR's flagship initiative, ICMR-MINDS, has won the Gold Award at the National Awards for e-Governance for its innovative use of AI in providing citizen-centric services, specifically its AI-enabled Clinical Decision Support System.
ICMR-MINDS Wins National e-Governance Gold Award
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)'s flagship initiative, ICMR-MINDS, a National Health Research Priority project, has been conferred the Gold Award under Category 2 - Innovation by Use of AI and Other New Age Technologies for Providing Citizen-Centric Services - at the National Awards for e-Governance, instituted by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
According to a press release, the award was presented by Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, in the presence of Col Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister for Information Technology and Communication, Government of Rajasthan, V Srinivas, Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan, and Nivedita Shukla Verma, Secretary, DARPG and Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare, Government of India.
Sharing the achievement on X, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said, "A milestone for India's digital healthcare journey! The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been conferred the National Award for e-Governance 2026 (Gold) by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances for its AI-enabled Clinical Decision Support System integrated with the eSanjeevani telemedicine service." 🏆 A milestone for India’s digital healthcare journey! 🇮🇳 The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been conferred the National Award for e-Governance 2026 (Gold) by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances for its AI-enabled Clinical Decision Support… pic.twitter.com/aRgixa5mb4 — Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) July 2, 2026
The Ministry said the award was received on its behalf by Joint Secretary Madhukar Kumar Bhagat along with other team members. It noted that the AI-enabled Clinical Decision Support System, integrated with the eSanjeevani telemedicine platform, provides AI-based clinical support to doctors based on patients' symptoms, strengthening clinical decision-making and benefiting millions of patients.
"The recognition reflects the Ministry's continued commitment to harnessing AI and emerging technologies to deliver accessible, efficient, and citizen-centric healthcare, bringing quality healthcare closer to every Indian," the Ministry said.
Integrating Mental Health and NCD Care
In a separate post on X, the Ministry congratulated ICMR for the recognition, stating, "ICMR has been conferred the Gold Award at #NCeG2026 for its flagship ICMR-MINDS initiative, recognizing innovation in integrating screening and management of mental & substance use disorders with NCD care through digital innovation--advancing the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047." 🏆 ICMR has been conferred the Gold Award at #NCeG2026 for its flagship ICMR-MINDS initiative, recognizing innovation in integrating screening and management of mental & substance use disorders with NCD care through digital innovation—advancing the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.… pic.twitter.com/Oevb3R2RSJ — Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) July 3, 2026
As per the release, the presentation took place during the 29th National Conference on e-Governance (NCeG) 2026, held in Jaipur, Rajasthan, on July 1-2, 2026.
How the ICMR-MINDS Initiative Works
As per the release, ICMR-MINDS is an implementation research study on the integration of screening and management of mental and substance use disorders with other non-communicable diseases. Its Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) enables task-shifting of standardised mental health screening, assessment, follow-up, and routine management from specialists to trained non-specialist frontline healthcare providers, backed by evidence-based digital decision support.
The platform offers standardised digital screening and assessment workflows, role-based clinical guidance, offline functionality, multilingual interfaces, and gamified features to sustain user engagement, alongside real-time administrative dashboards for monitoring service delivery and reducing dependence on specialists.
Ensuring Continuity of Care
A key strength lies in its continuity-of-care framework, which supports structured referral and bidirectional back-referral pathways - allowing stable patients to receive follow-up care at their nearest health facility while specialists focus on complex cases. This optimises specialist time, empowers frontline providers to deliver standardised mental healthcare, improves treatment adherence, eases the burden on tertiary care centres, and reduces patient dropout across the continuum of care.
Nationwide Implementation and Collaboration
According to the release, the initiative is being implemented across seven states through seven collaborating institutions: All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Guwahati (Assam); Gujarat Institute of Mental Health (GIMH), Ahmedabad (Gujarat); AIIMS, New Delhi (Haryana); St. John's Medical College, Bengaluru (Karnataka); AIIMS, Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh); AIIMS, Bhubaneswar (Odisha); and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh (Punjab).
Commitment to Future Healthcare Innovation
Reacting to the recognition, Dr Rajiv Bahl, Secretary, Department of Health Research, and Director General, ICMR, said, "ICMR will continue to pioneer data-driven, scalable technology interventions to solve complex public health challenges. Through ongoing collaboration with participating institutions and state health systems, ICMR remains committed to providing affordable, standardised, and high-quality healthcare platforms for the people of India."
The success of ICMR-MINDS has been made possible through close collaboration with the State Health Departments of Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Punjab, along with State Mental Health and NCD Programme teams, district health authorities, Principal Investigators, Co-Principal Investigators, healthcare professionals, and field teams across the participating states. (ANI)
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