Key points
- Private nursing homes, hospitals and voluntary organisations ran 1,050 of Delhi's 1,163 medical institutions and 27,540 of its 58,960 sanctioned beds in 2021-22.7
- The Digital Personal Data Protection Rules were notified on 13 November 2025, and the security, breach and notice rules apply eighteen months later, from May 2027.2
- Under the Rules a clinic must encrypt or mask personal data, control access, keep access logs for a year and report a breach to the Data Protection Board within 72 hours.2
- In the 2011 Census, 15.1 percent of Delhi's 16.8 million residents reported a mother tongue outside the Hindi group, led by Punjabi and Urdu at about 5.2 percent each.6
- wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with your clinic.
Summary
A private clinic in Delhi works under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 and its 2025 Rules, the Delhi Nursing Homes Registration Act if it admits patients, and the Delhi Medical Council's register for its doctors. ICMR's AI guidelines give patients the choice to accept or decline AI. With wai, records are hosted in India and a person approves every message.
Delhi clinics now answer the night's WhatsApp enquiries in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English and confirm the day's list before the doors open, with a person approving every word. Private hospitals and nursing homes hold close to half the city's beds.
Part of the NABH hub, with the framework explained, a readiness checklist and 7 guides.
See it in your clinicThirty minutes on your own patients and doctors.
Request a demoSee a late-night WhatsApp enquiry drafted for your team to approve and a Hindi voice intake read in English, in a fifteen-minute Delhi demo.
| Body or law | What it requires | What to ask | How wai meets it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi Medical Council Act 1997 | Doctors entered on the Delhi register | Which registered doctor signs each note | The clinician reviews and signs every note |
| Delhi Nursing Homes Registration Act 1953 | Registration before carrying on a nursing home | Which sites and services the system covers | Every site and service on one patient record |
| DPDP Act 2023, section 6 | Free, specific, informed and unambiguous consent, notice in English or an Eighth Schedule language | How consent to AI and recording is captured | The patient's agreement is taken before the clinician starts the scribe |
| DPDP Rules 2025, Rules 6 and 7 | Encryption, access control, one-year access logs, breach report within 72 hours, from May 2027 | Show the encryption, access model and log export | AES-256 at rest, role-based access enforced in the database, every action logged and exportable |
| ICMR AI guidelines 2023 | Patients able to choose or reject AI | How a patient can decline the scribe | The scribe starts only after the patient agrees, and nothing sends without approval |
| Data residency | Transfers abroad subject to Central Government requirements | Where are records hosted | Records hosted in India, set up with the clinic |
The private care market in Delhi
The Economic Survey of Delhi counted 1,163 medical institutions with 58,960 sanctioned beds in 2021-22.7 Private nursing homes, hospitals and voluntary organisations accounted for 1,050 of those institutions and 27,540 beds, 46.7 percent of the total.7
Delhi had 2.89 beds per 1,000 people that year, against the WHO benchmark of 5 that the Survey cites.7
The rules a clinic in Delhi works under
Doctors practising modern medicine in Delhi are entered on the register kept by the Delhi Medical Council under the Delhi Medical Council Act 1997.4 A clinic that admits patients for treatment or nursing is a nursing home under the Delhi Nursing Homes Registration Act 1953, and no one may carry on a nursing home without registration.3
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 governs digital personal data, including patient records. Consent must be free, specific, informed, unconditional and unambiguous, given by a clear affirmative action, and the patient may read the notice in English or any language in the Eighth Schedule.1
The Rules were notified in the Gazette on 13 November 2025, and the Press Information Bureau announced them on 14 November.9 Rules 3 and 5 to 16, covering notice, security safeguards and breach reporting, come into force eighteen months after publication.2 Rule 6 sets the minimum safeguards, including encryption or masking, access control and access logs kept for one year, and Rule 7 requires a breach report to the Data Protection Board within 72 hours.2 Transfers abroad are allowed subject to any requirements the Central Government sets.2
ICMR's 2023 ethical guidelines set ten principles, among them that patients must have complete autonomy to choose or reject AI.5 wai records only with the patient's agreement, taken with the consent form template.
wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with your clinic. wai is compliant with these rules and built for clinics in Delhi. wai is built to connect to the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. We set up your clinic's connection with you.
The languages Delhi patients write in
The 2011 Census recorded 16,787,941 people in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. 84.9 percent gave a mother tongue in the Hindi group, which in the Census includes Bhojpuri with 226,103 speakers and Haryanvi with 112,862.6
Punjabi followed with 873,477 speakers and Urdu with 867,673, about 5.2 percent each, then Bengali with 215,960 and Maithili with 122,956.6 Every one of these is an Eighth Schedule language, so a patient can ask for the privacy notice in it.1
What a demo shows in Delhi
A WhatsApp enquiry arrives at 11pm asking for a cardiology review this week. wai drafts a reply in the clinic's voice with the earliest open slot, and the front desk approves it when the clinic opens. A missed call at lunchtime becomes a drafted text, so the enquiry sits in the same thread within minutes, as covered in after-hours enquiries.
The patient books and gets the intake questionnaire. An older patient answers it by voice in Hindi, and the consultant reads the answers in English before the visit.8 During the consult wai drafts the note and the referral letter, and the consultant reviews and signs both.
Every message, draft, approval and signature is logged and exportable, which is the kind of access record Rule 6 asks a clinic to keep.2
For hospitals, government and insurers in Delhi
The Delhi Government ran 40 institutions with 14,244 sanctioned beds in 2021-22.7 For public bodies, hospital groups and insurers, wai builds one defined care pathway with the organisation's clinical and procurement teams, starting from the live platform, with data, configuration and model rights, portability and exit agreed in the contract. The organisation owns what is built. See wai for organisations.
Where to start
First, confirm the clinic's status under the Nursing Homes Registration Act and that every doctor who will sign AI-drafted notes is on the Delhi Medical Council register.
Second, plan for May 2027 now. Map where patient data is held, check encryption, access control and one-year access logs against Rule 6, and write the 72-hour breach routine. Third, add the AI consent line and the recording notice to the consent form, in English and the patient's language.
Then pull one month of enquiries by language, channel and hour, and request a demo with it. The demo runs on your services and your patients' languages.
Bring a week of your clinic's WhatsApp enquiries and see each one drafted for your team to approve.
Frequently asked questions
When do the DPDP Rules apply to Delhi clinics?
The Rules were notified on 13 November 2025. The notice, security safeguard and breach rules come into force eighteen months later, in May 2027.2
Does a Delhi clinic need nursing home registration?
If it receives patients for treatment or nursing on its premises, yes. The 1953 Act bars carrying on a nursing home without registration.3 A purely outpatient clinic should confirm its position with the Directorate General of Health Services.
Must patient data stay in India?
The DPDP framework allows transfers abroad subject to requirements the Central Government sets.2 wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with your clinic.
Do patients have to agree to an AI scribe in Delhi?
Which languages should a Delhi clinic plan for?
Does wai reply to patients on its own?
No. wai drafts each reply and a person on the team approves it. Clinical documents go out only after the doctor signs.
Sources
- 1Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, 2023The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (No. 22 of 2023)Read 14 October 2026Read source
- 2Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, 2025Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, G.S.R. 846(E)Read 14 October 2026Read source
- 3Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of NCT of Delhi, 1953The Delhi Nursing Homes Registration Act, 1953 (archived copy read 14 Oct 2026)Read 14 October 2026Read source
- 4India Code, Legislative Department, Government of India, 1997The Delhi Medical Council Act, 1997 (archived copy read 14 Oct 2026)Read 14 October 2026Read source
- 5Indian Council of Medical Research, 2023Ethical Guidelines for Application of Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Research and HealthcareRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 6Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, 2011Census of India 2011, table C-16, population by mother tongue, NCT of DelhiRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 7Planning Department, Government of NCT of Delhi, 2023Economic Survey of Delhi 2022-23, chapter 16, health and family welfare (archived copy read 14 Oct 2026)Read 14 October 2026Read source
- 8wai, 2026wai changelogRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 9Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Electronics and IT, 2025Government notifies DPDP Rules to empower citizens and protect privacyRead 15 October 2026Read source
Every Delhi enquiry answered before the doors open.
Fifteen minutes with a clinician who uses wai daily, on your own enquiries and Delhi's rules. We reply within one working day.
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See it on your own patients, then build it with us
Thirty minutes on your own patients, doctors and rules, in your market. We reply within one working day, and the clinics that partner with us early shape what we build next.
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