Dr Rajendra Pratap Gupta, Co-Chair of the Global Digital Health Summit 2025 and Member of the UN’s IGF Dynamic Coalition on Digital Health, tells Express Healthcare why the upcoming summit is a wake-up call for clinicians and healthcare leaders to adapt to fast-evolving technologies, or risk becoming irrelevant in a digitally redefined healthcare ecosystem
Dr Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Q1. Why is RESET the defining theme of this year’s summit?
When I analyse the developments across the continuum of care, I realise that we have hit the RESET button. The healthcare has entered a no-turning-back moment. Technology is not just supporting healthcare—it is rewiring it. AR / VR / MR, digital therapeutics, robotics, gaming, and AI are converging at breakneck speed. For clinicians, this means their practice, their workflows, and even the relationship with patients will change permanently. RESET is a call to step back, re-imagine, and prepare. Those who adapt will thrive. Those who delay risk becoming irrelevant in the digital age. I will sum it this way, ‘We have reached a stage that if you master technology, you will be irreplaceable, and if you ignore, you will be irrelevant’.
Q2. Why should doctors and clinicians pay special attention?
Because the disruption will hit the clinic before the boardroom. Consider this:
- AR, VR, Gaming, Simulation, and robotics is transforming care delivery. AI is already assisting in radiology, pathology, dermatology and ophthalmology, often outperforming humans in early detection.
- Government of India is now the world leader in digital health implementation. ABHA ids are about to touch 800 million and tele-consultations via eSanjeevani is nearing 350 million
- Digital health is projected to become a $16 billion market in India by 2028, reshaping patient care models.
- 6/10 patients know about digital health and only 2/10 doctors know digital health.
This is the best time for doctors to harness these technologies and become irreplaceable for patients.
Q3. What new initiatives will be launched at the summit?
The Global Digital Health Summit 2025 is not only about dialogue—it is about action. Key launches include:
- This is the world’s first summit to offer structured, hands-on training for clinicians and healthcare professionals Leading to CPD and CNE Credentialed AI Level 1 Certification. Post attending the summit, the participants who attend all the sessions will be able to creat their AI tools. Think about the disruption this will cause grounds up.
- The summit will witness a few disruptive launches – one in the field of neurodiversity and other two in the field of medical education and research.
Q4. Who are are expected at the summit?
Global leaders who have transformed healthcare will join us at the summit. Last year, 2,000 delegates from across the globe attended, making it India’s largest and most respected healthcare summit. This year, we are on track to cross last year’s registrations, proving that healthcare professionals worldwide see this as the world’s most innovative marketplace.
Q5. How will clinicians and healthcare providers benefit in their daily practice?
You will gain:
- Clinical Edge: getting updated on the global developments in the field of medicine & surgery.
- Operational Skills: Insights into how hospitals can survive in digital age.
- Pharmaceutical companies will understand the importance of integrating AI across the value chain.
- New Revenue Models: Explore new pricing and consumer convergence models for innovative healthcare products and services
- How clinicians and companies can become ‘Digital First’ to survive
Q6. How does the summit ensure global collaboration?
The summit has been supported by UN’s IGF Dynamic Coalition on Digital Health, ECH- Alliance, Global Health Connector, American Telemedicine Association, Ministry of AYUSH, Ministry IT (MEITY), C-DAC, National Health Authority, BIRAC, IPA, OPPI, AiMeD, and Governments of various states
Q7. What risks do doctors and companies face if they skip this RESET moment?
The same risk that giants like Kodak, Nokia, Blackberry and Intel faced: irrelevance. Waiting and watching is not a strategy. As technology advances exponentially, those who do not adapt will struggle to attract patients, talent, and capital. The healthcare technology graveyard is already filling up with those who thought disruption was “still a few years away.”
Dr Rajendra Pratap Gupta is the summit co-chair of the www.globalsummit.health. The global flagship event in Digital Health being hosted in India from 19th-21st September at Mumbai.