IIT Kharagpur to set up centre of excellence on medical device

Kolkata, May 20 () The IIT Kharagpur is going to set up a 'Centre of Excellence on Medical Device and Diagnostics' to foster innovation of affordable and indigenous medical devices and diagnostics in priority areas. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has accepted a proposal by the IIT-KGP to set up the facility and earmarked Rs 20 crore for it, according to a statement issued by the institute.

"We thank the ICMR for entrusting us with this responsibility....We had a rewarding experience in engaging with the ICMR through a pilot, ICMR-IIT Kharagpur MedTech internship programme, earlier and that drew great interest among engineering and medical students," IIT Kharagpur Director Prof V K Tewari said.

The centre of excellence will aim to develop marketable technologies within a time frame and use this experience to achieve longer-term goals to address challenging problems in the field of medical devices and diagnostics.

Following a call by the ICMR in January, the IIT Kharagpur proposed to build the facility which will have thrust areas encompassing artificial intelligence in healthcare, medical devices for screening and diagnostics in healthcare, medical implants, and bio-sensors in healthcare, the spokesperson said.

A super-speciality hospital of the IIT Kharagpur is also coming up.

"Recently we heard that people residing in nearby areas of West Bengal and neighbouring 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," Tewari said.