IIT Kanpur, SGPGIMS join hands for centre of excellence in healthcare robotics

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur and Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to advance innovation in accessible healthcare through indigenous solutions.

The MoU was signed on Monday in the presence o key members from both the institutes, including Professor RK Dhiman, Director, SGPGIMS and Professor Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur.

Under the MoU, the institutes will set up a centre of excellence (CoE) in telemedicine and healthcare robotics with an overarching objective of strengthening healthcare system. Both the institutes have agreed to establish a research and development set up for promoting telemedicine aided by ICT and 5G, and point-of-care testing and diagnostics.

“Through this initiative, two leading institutions of India will join hands to uphold their vision of a robust, indigenous healthcare system focused on promoting interdisciplinary innovation. The MoU is a timely step in the right direction to enable an exchange of ideas across engineering and medicine as professionals from IIT Kanpur will receive the opportunity to collaborate with specialised doctors at SGPGI, Lucknow,” Professor Abhay Karandikar said on the occasion.

On the joint initiative Professor RK Dhiman said, “We will jointly launch courses in various fields of digital health which is not available in any engineering and medical educational institutions in the country at the moment. Current corona pandemic has made telemedicine technology a very popular and useful tool to bridge the gap between care providers and citizens. So, there is a need to develop indigenous technology platform and systems in large scale which can be affordable and made available widely.”

“This will promote entrepreneurship and develop a rural health system which can be deployed far and wide to strengthen the health system. The future holds the key for hybrid healthcare system for which the bond between engineering and medical discipline needs to be strengthened. In that context, the timing of handshake between two major institutions is appropriate which is going to yield immense benefit to the society,” he added.