Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) is setting up a Centre of Excellence on medical devices and diagnostics. This initiative is aimed at “fostering innovation of affordable and indigenous medical devices and diagnostics in priority areas and also at promoting entrepreneurship”, said a statement issued by IIT Kharagpur.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has accepted the proposal to set up the centre of excellence and earmarked Rs 20 crore for it.
According to the official statement, “In January 2020, ICMR had given a call for setting up a Centre of Excellence based on which IIT Kharagpur had proposed for the set up with thrust areas encompassing artificial intelligence in healthcare, medical devices for screening and diagnostics in healthcare, medical implants, biosensors in healthcare etc.”
IIT Kharagpur And Healthcare
India's population size gives rise to various healthcare challenges. This, along with the needs of the marginalized population in remote areas, requires unique and indigenous solutions, the IIT Kharagpur statement further says.
Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur, said: “We thank ICMR, the apex body of Government of India spearheading biomedical research, for entrusting us with this responsibility. We look forward to working closely with ICMR and making meaningful contributions through these efforts.”
IIT Kharagpur Hospital
The association between ICMR and IIT Kharagpur will also help the institute achieve goals set for the upcoming Dr. B C Roy Institute of Medical Science and Research, a research and development-driven super-speciality hospital, the first of its kind in the IIT system, as per the official statement.
Prof. Tewari said: “Recently we heard that people residing in nearby areas of West Bengal and neighboring states of Jharkhand and Odisha are feeling hopeful that the burden of accessing healthcare facilities on patients and their families would be reduced with the upcoming super speciality hospital of IIT Kharagpur. This can be taken further by catering to the need of a patient to visit a hospital through technology enabled healthcare at home and local level.”
In the long-term, the collaborative initiative seeks to address the challenging problems in the field of medical devices and diagnostics.
The priority of the centre will be generating new intellectual property and defining a licensed path. “The centre will also try to extend medical technology related support to other organizations including different centres of ICMR.”
