The International Health Dialogue (IHD) 2026 commenced today in Hyderabad, bringing together clinicians, patient safety leaders, accreditation experts, and health system policymakers from India and across the world. With the theme Global Voices. One Vision., Day 1 of the conference firmly placed patient safety at the centre of leadership and governance, shaped by equity and enabled through responsible digital transformation.
Discussions across sessions reflected a clear global direction: India’s lived experience of delivering healthcare at scale—while steadily strengthening standards, accountability, and outcomes—is increasingly influencing how patient safety and trust are being understood and implemented worldwide.
Opening the conference, Dr. Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group, spoke about the founding purpose of the International Health Dialogue as a platform created to ensure that learning does not remain confined to individual systems.
“So much innovation is happening within our hospitals, within our systems. We are learning every day. But why is this knowledge staying within our own ecosystem? Why are we not sharing it more openly?” she said, adding that the intent of IHD has always been to “take what we have learned and make it useful for others.”
Highlighting the growing global relevance of the platform, she noted that IHD 2026 received over 5,000 registrations, more than 300 paper submissions, and over 120 award entries from 75+ institutions worldwide.
Setting the tone for outcomes that function in real-world conditions, Dr Jayesh Ranjan, Special Chief Secretary for the Industries & Commerce (I&C) and Information Technology (IT) Departments, Government of Telangana, emphasised the centrality of equity in patient safety design.
“When we talk about sharing learning and improving systems, we have to start with the truth that patients are not homogeneous. Different patients live in different worlds, and safety means different things in each,” he said.
“An equity lens forces a design lens. If we want patient safety to hold up in the real world, we must design for those who are most vulnerable, and we must plan for continuity, access, and how people actually behave,” he added. On digital inclusion, he observed, “The digital divide is not only infrastructure. Often, the mindset divide is bigger.”
Across the day, speakers converged on the need for coordinated ecosystem-wide action involving regulators, accreditors, providers, and technology partners. In the opening plenary, Dr. Madhu Sasidhar, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hospitals Division, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, underscored organisational accountability.
“Patient safety cannot be solved by one stakeholder alone. It requires regulators, governments, accreditors, providers, and technology firms to work as one. Patient safety is not a departmental responsibility. It is in fact an organisational leadership responsibility.”
A strong theme across multiple sessions was the urgency to shift from reactive care models to earlier, preventive interventions. Addressing global system pressures, Dr Sangita Reddy said,
“Healthcare demand is rising. We cannot solve exponential problems with linear solutions.”
These discussions linked prevention to sharper outcome measurement and disciplined use of digital tools anchored in accountability.
Offering a global quality and safety perspective, Dr. Carsten Engel, CEO, International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua), reflected on the persistent gap between focus and results.
“Patient safety has been on the agenda for decades, but we still have to say we are not there yet,” he said.
Cautioning against activity without impact, he noted, “We risk creating safety clutter, procedures and activities done in the name of safety that do not improve safety.”
He urged leaders to adopt a systems-based lens, adding, “Don’t ask why people didn’t do what they should have done. Ask why it made sense for them to do what they did.”
On standards and execution, Dr. Atul Mohan Kochhar, CEO, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH), stressed urgency with an implementation-first approach.
“Patient safety is not only a technical issue. It is a moral, social, and economic imperative. Policies alone do not improve safety. Implementation efficiency does,” he said.
Reinforcing ambition, he added, “We must be ambitious when it comes to patient safety. Zero harm is the only number that can be accepted for patient safety risk.”
Building on this emphasis, Apollo Hospitals also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Roche Diagnostics India during Day 1 proceedings to explore the integration of advanced artificial intelligence into clinical decision-making. The collaboration will focus on translating AI-enabled insights into practical, clinician-friendly support across care pathways, enabling earlier risk identification, greater consistency in clinical judgement, and safer, standardised care delivery at scale.
Apollo’s focus on culture-led transformation was highlighted by Dr. Rohini Sridhar, Chief of Medical Services, Apollo Hospitals, who said,
“Unless clinicians walk with you, zero harm cannot be achieved. If one unit experiences harm, every unit must learn immediately. Technology accelerates learning, but culture determines action.”
Later in the day, IHD 2026 hosted a dedicated spotlight session for newly launched digital health startups, featuring curated pitches to investors. The session focused on solutions grounded in real clinical and operational gaps, including safer workflows, decision support, early risk identification, improved documentation, and scalable patient engagement.
IHD 2026 will continue on January 31 in Hyderabad with further sessions and showcases on patient safety, digital transformation, healthcare operations, and clinical learning.
