IIT Kharagpur and ICMR set up centre to generate innovative medical devices

IIT-KGP's Centre of Excellence aims at fostering innovation of affordable and indigenous medical devices and diagnostics in priority areas and also at promoting entrepreneurship.

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) is setting up a Centre of Excellence on medical devices and diagnostics. According to the official statement released by IIT-KGP, “this initiative is aimed at fostering innovation of affordable and indigenous medical devices and diagnostics in priority areas and also at promoting entrepreneurship.”

As the reports suggest, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) accepted the proposal to set up the centre of excellence and earmarked Rs 20 crore for it.

IIT-KGP’s official statement states, “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’s contribution to healthcare and medical facilities

Talking about the arising challenges related to the health of the people, the statement reads, “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.”

Showing gratitude towards ICMR’s acceptance of the proposal, the IIT-KGP Director, Professor V K Tewari, 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.”

According to the official statement, “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-specialty hospital, the first of its kind in the IIT system.”

Professor Tewari further added, “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 specialty 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.”

The collaboration will address the challenging problems in the field of healthcare facilities, diagnostics and medical devices. The initiative will prioritize generating new intellectual property and defining a licensed path. The IIT-KGP centre will also try to extend medical technology-related support to other organizations including different centres of ICMR.

Read More:

• IIT Kharagpur Admission 2020 
• IIT Kharagpur Courses & Fees 2020