Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati has established the ICMR-DHR Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Device and Diagnostics Innovation and Commercialisation to cater for rural India with a focus on healthcare delivery to the last-mile population.
The Centre of Excellence is situated at the Centre of Nanotechnology and Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology of IIT Guwahati.
The primary objective of the centre is to develop three indigenous products in the domain of healthcare that can be commercially successful in the near future.
They would also work to detect biomarkers using microfluidic and semiconductor nano-biosensors 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, said a press release issued by IIT Guwahati.
“The centre is envisioned to excel in the frugal innovations related to biomedical devices and develop a unique academia-industry model for the product development related to the med-tech innovation in the country. The translational innovations proposed in the centre are expected to cater the societal needs related to the diagnostics and healthcare delivery, especially in rural India,” Prof TG Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati said in the release.
The ICMR centre of excellence wishes to achieve import substitution and development of Indian technologies for the healthcare problems related to India. It would devise indigenous alternatives to healthcare devices (such as auto-analyzers and semi-auto analyzers) imported from other countries under the government’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative.