India becomes first nation to digitise traditional medicine with AI-powered library

India has become the first country to digitise its traditional medical knowledge using an AI-powered library. The platform includes systems like Ayurveda, Siddha, and Sowa-Rigpa, aiming to preserve ancient health practices and support future research.

The launch of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) has made India the first country in the world to digitise (making all information available in the digital mode) its traditional medicine systems using Artificial Intelligence.

In Short

• India creates AI-powered library for traditional medical systems
• WHO backs India’s step to digitise ancient health knowledge
• Ayurveda, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa now digitally preserved through TKDL

The launch of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) has made India the first country in the world to digitise (making all information available in the digital mode) its traditional medicine systems using Artificial Intelligence. This move is a turning point for how ancient health knowledge like Ayurveda and Unani can be protected, studied, and used in today’s world.

Backed by WHO and supported by the Indian government, the effort shows how modern tools can bring new life to centuries-old practices.

The digitisation of TKDL is a methodical effort to ensure that knowledge systems like Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa, and Homoeopathy are protected from misuse, studied with precision and applied.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), in a recent report, acknowledged the move as an important development in the global push to integrate traditional and modern medicine.

PRESERVING KNOWLEDGE, PREVENTING EXPLOITATION

The roots of India's traditional medicine lie in oral traditions, palm-leaf manuscripts, and classical texts that go back hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

In the absence of documentation, there have been many instances in the past where foreign companies patented herbal formulations and treatments that had long existed in Indian households.

The TKDL was conceived as a solution to that problem.

By translating and digitising these traditional formulations in multiple languages and coding them into formats understandable to patent offices, the library provides evidence that such knowledge already exists in the public domain.