IIT Guwahati unveils a new medical research facility to bolster healthcare in rural India

INDIA – Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), the sixth member of the IIT fraternity, has opened a revolutionary medical research facility situated at the Centre of Nanotechnology and Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology of IIT, Guwahati.

Established in 1994, the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati aims to provide the students with an educational training that emphasizes innovation, social awareness, professional ethics and nurture leadership skills.

IIT Guwahati has been able to build up world class infrastructure for carrying out advanced research and has been equipped with state-of-the-art scientific and engineering instruments. In addition, the academic institution continues to maintain its superior position in various International Rankings.

The Indian-based academic institution has established a new multidisciplinary department dubbed the Indian Council of Medical Research and Department of Health Research (ICMR-DHR) Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Device and Diagnostics Innovation and Commercialization in Guwahati.

In the next few decades, especially keeping the post-pandemic scenario in perspective, the focus of healthcare innovation would be to develop frugal technologies to cater to the needs of the last mile population.

According to a recent press release by IIT Guwahati, the ICMR-DHR Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Device and Diagnostics Innovation and Commercialization aims to cater to the technological needs of rural India particularly healthcare delivery to the last-mile population.

The initiative will also significantly contribute to the National Education Policy 2020 of the Government of India wherein a single umbrella where professors, researchers, entrepreneurs, doctors and students from multiple departments will work together for research and innovation in the domain of healthcare innovation.

In addition, the multidisciplinary initiative has been steered by the Departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Biosciences and Bioengineering, Design and Mathematics and Electronics and Electrical Engineering to mention a few.

The Centre will be used to develop frugal point-of-care diagnostic devices for the collection, storage, security and analysis of the data specific to rural India as well as develop three indigenous products in the domain of healthcare and innovate indigenous alternatives to healthcare devices.

IIT Guwahati revealed that the key objectives of the new Centre will be to detect biomarkers to detect various non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as chronic kidney disorder, post-diabetic complications, liver or pancreatic malfunctions, cardiac illnesses and urinary tract infections.

IITG Director Professor T G Sitharam further said that the new department will focus on healthcare technology development while noting that the innovations proposed in the Centre are expected to cater to the societal needs related to diagnostics and healthcare delivery especially in rural India.

Moreover, the launch of the ICMR-DHR Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Device and Diagnostics Innovation and Commercialization is in line with the strategic mission of IIT Guwahati to provide education, research and advancement of knowledge.

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