BHUBANESWAR: In a first-of-its kind initiative in the country, AIIMS and IIT have joined forces to promote academic and research collaborations in various areas of health and technology.Nearly three months after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged his cabinet colleague and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to introduce a dual degree programme, AIIMS Bhubaneswar has collaborated with IIT to integrate medical sciences with technology for providing better and more equipped healthcare services.
Both the national institutes have agreed to extend the collaboration in advance research for public health applications like early diagnosis of diseases and outbreaks, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, biomedical engineering and technology, disease prediction modelling, digital health, development of tools, equipment and strategies for diagnostic and therapeutic use.
The partnership will focus on application of AI to health disorders, development of materials, apps, wearable sensors, image based diagnostics, smart health monitoring and early warning systems. It will explore the use of advanced medical equipment for AI-enabled patient care services.
AIIMS executive director Dr Ashutosh Biswas said the endeavour will aid in finding solutions to the current challenges in the public health and patient treatment in the region. Application of cutting-edge technology in healthcare will have immense translational value in diagnosis and treatment of diseases, he said.
Also, an advanced research centre for biomedical engineering and technology will be set up for biomedical signal processing, advanced characterisation and detector fabrication for imaging, additive manufacturing for designed materials, bio tracker and biosensor development for mental healthcare.In addition, both institutes have agreed to facilitate faculty and student exchange programmes and training courses to ensure academic excellence.
IIT director Shreepad Karmalkar said several faculty of IIT and AIIMS had been looking at possible mutual partnerships for some time. “We will develop joint academic programmes that include short summer courses for MBBS and BTech students along with opportunities for research dissertation and thesis work for doctoral students,” he said.The agreement between the two institutes on various novel initiatives was signed on Tuesday.