Key Points
Indigenous 1.5 Tesla MRI system developed by multiple national research agencies
AIIMS and SAMEER collaborate on medical device innovation
Human trials scheduled for October 2024
Supports domestic medical technology development
The indigenous 1.5 Tesla MRI system for medical imaging will be built at the Indigenous Magnetic Resonance Imaging (IMRI) -- a national mission, sponsored by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) and being implemented at the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER), an autonomous government institution under Meity.
C-DAC (Trivandrum), C-DAC (Kolkata), IUAC (New Delhi), and DSI-MIRC (Bangalore) will work as collaborating agencies to design and develop the MRI system.
Meity informed that "animal trials have been concluded".
In addition, "the subsystems development and testing of RF Power Amplifier, High power T/R switch, RF spectrometer, RF Coils, Rx. Front ends, control unit, couch, and IMRI software have been completed and integrated with the procured magnet, gradient coil, and gradient amplifier," it added.
"India takes a big leap in developing frugal and indigenous health solutions including medical devices to not just meet domestic demand but also to serve the next billion," said Sunita Verma, Group Coordinator R&D, MeitY.
The MRI machine is part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between SAMEER, and AIIMS.
Under the MoU, both institutions will work collaboratively to develop high-field/low field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)/ Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) systems and promote research in radio frequency (RF), microwave systems, and allied areas for medical applications.
The MOU encompasses five key areas: collaborative research in medical devices development; clinical validation of indigenous 1.5 T MRI system developed by SAMEER, Mumbai; collaborative research in AI/ML for image enhancement and accelerated imaging; design and development of subsystems of high/low field MRI scanner; and development of RF subsystems for high field animal MRI scanners.
"It is important to showcase the country's capabilities, and clinicians must work closely with scientists to develop more and better medical devices," said Dr M. Srinivas, Director, AIIMS, New Delhi.
