Looking Back 2025: Digital healthcare, traditional meds gained ground

India’s healthcare sector witnessed significant expansion in 2025 with the Centre intensifying efforts to ensure affordable and technology-driven healthcare. However, the year was marred with controversies involving deaths due to toxic cough syrups in Madhya Pradesh thereby exposing the gaps in market regulations.

Fight against malaria, TB on

India has transitioned from a high-burden malaria country to a high-impact state, with malaria incidence declining by over 80 per cent and deaths by 78 per cent.

Talking about tuberculosis, officials from the Health Ministry said the incidence of tuberculosis had declined from 237 cases per lakh population in 2015 to 187 per lakh at present, marking a 21 per cent decline, significantly higher than the global decline of 12 per cent.

Progress in maternal health

Maternal mortality ratio has declined from 130 per lakh live births in 2014 to 88 in 2025. Besides, infant mortality rate has reduced from 39 per 1,000 live births in 2014 to 27 in 2025. Under-five mortality rate has also declined by 42 per cent in India, as compared to a global decline of 12 per cent, while neonatal mortality rate has fallen by 39 per cent in India, against 11 per cent globally.

AI use enhanced patient care

Speaking with The Tribune, Deepak Tuli, co-founder and COO, Eka Care, said growing trust in digital platforms and deeper use of AI to reduce administrative burden on doctors had led to improved patient engagement.

According to Tuli,“From remote clinics to urban hospitals, technology has played a critical role in making healthcare more accessible, transparent, and patient-centric.”

“The year 2025 also witnessed deeper collaboration between hospitals, clinicians, technology platforms and developer communities. This accelerated the adoption of digital tools that enhance clinical efficiency, streamline workflows and enable secure data-sharing across care settings,” he added.

India hailed ancient wisdom

In January, India and Indonesia marked a significant milestone in traditional medicine collaboration as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto witnessed the exchange of MoU on ‘Traditional Medicine Quality Assurance’ between the Ministry of Ayush, and the Indonesian Food and Drug Authority. The partnership will elevate global standards by ensuring the safety, efficacy and quality of traditional medicines.

Prime Minister, at the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, announced the establishment of a Centre of Excellence to boost research and dissemination of knowledge about traditional medicine. The initiative is set to strengthen India–Thailand collaboration in traditional medicine, building on existing academic partnerships and the Ayush Scholarship Scheme, which has benefitted 175 students from BIMSTEC countries in the past five years.

The new Centre of Excellence is expected to accelerate joint research, development and knowledge exchange in Ayurveda, Thai Traditional Medicine and other traditional systems.

Contaminated syrup killed 25

In September, at least 25 children died in Madhya Pradesh and neighbouring Rajasthan due to an acute kidney failure caused by a contaminated cough syrup branded as Coldrif.

Following this, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) launched a digital monitoring system to oversee the supply chain and quality of high-risk pharmaceutical solvents.