New AI healthcare platform aims to strengthen preventive care across India

A Chennai-based epidemiologist has developed HIVE, an AI-powered healthcare intelligence platform that combines clinical expertise with verified medical evidence. Designed to support doctors and public health workers, it aims to strengthen preventive healthcare and improve informed medical decision-making across India

New Delhi: A platform aimed at providing verified, evidence-based healthcare intelligence by combining artificial intelligence with clinical expertise has been developed by a Chennai-based epidemiologist to strengthen preventive healthcare across India.

Developed by Dr Viduthalai Virumbi Balagurusamy, founder director of the Honeybee Population Healthcare Foundation (HPHF), the Healthcare Intelligence and Verification Engine (HIVE) is designed to go beyond conventional AI chatbots by verifying recommendations through patient records, clinical reasoning, medical literature, public health data and current clinical guidelines.

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Unlike AI tools that primarily generate responses using information available online, HIVE integrates multiple sources of evidence and the treating doctor’s clinical judgement to deliver healthcare intelligence that is transparent, explainable and tailored to individual patients.

The platform comes at a time when millions of people are increasingly relying on AI for health-related information even as concerns continue over misinformation, delayed diagnosis, inappropriate self-medication and unreliable healthcare advice.

The developers say HIVE seeks to bridge this gap by ensuring healthcare decisions are grounded in evidence rather than assumptions.

“Healthcare is not just about information. It is about trust, context and verification. HIVE has been built to ensure that healthcare decisions are supported by reliable evidence, clinical reasoning and patient-specific realities rather than generic responses,” said Dr Viduthalai Virumbi Balagurusamy. Apart from assisting doctors in clinical decision-making, HIVE has been envisioned as a platform that can support frontline healthcare workers and public health programmes, particularly in underserved communities where access to specialist healthcare remains limited.

According to the foundation, the long-term objective is to build a preventive healthcare ecosystem that facilitates early disease detection, improves treatment compliance, expands access to healthcare services and empowers communities to take informed health decisions before illnesses become critical.

The platform also has the potential to address several key public health priorities in India, including maternal health, anaemia, mental health, non-communicable diseases, perimenopause, menopause and preventive screening, by equipping community health workers with verified decision-support systems that can help identify health risks early and enable timely intervention.

According to Balagurusamy, the future of healthcare lies in augmenting rather than replacing clinicians. “Artificial intelligence should not replace human judgement. It should strengthen it. Our goal is to create a system where technology, clinicians and public health workers work together to improve health outcomes for millions of people,” he says.

The Honeybee Population Healthcare Foundation is currently offering HIVE free of cost to individuals and at subsidised rates for doctors, clinics and hospitals, saying wider access to verified healthcare intelligence is essential for improving healthcare equity, particularly in resource-constrained settings.