India's healthcare system continues to face several critical challenges, including a rapidly increasing population, limited healthcare infrastructure, and persistent inequalities in access to medical services. These issues have created a growing need for innovative solutions that can improve healthcare delivery and patient support. This paper examines the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in transforming medical social work within the Indian healthcare context. It explores how AI technologies can assist medical social
workers in providing more efficient, accessible, and patient-centred services. The study is grounded in the principles of medical social work, healthcare management, and emerging digital technologies, with a strong emphasis on maintaining empathy, ethical practice, and a client-centred approach. The analysis demonstrates that AI has the potential to strengthen several aspects of medical social work, including patient assessment, mental health counselling, resource allocation, multilingual communication through realtime
translation, remote patient monitoring, and data-driven decisionmaking. At the same time, the paper discusses important ethical
considerations, such as protecting patient privacy, ensuring responsible use of health data, and preserving meaningful human interaction in healthcare settings. The findings suggest that AI should not be viewed as a replacement for medical social workers but as a supportive tool that enhances their professional capabilities. When implemented responsibly and ethically, AI can contribute significantly to improving the quality, accessibility, and effectiveness of healthcare services in India while reinforcing compassionate and patient-centred care.