India develops its first indigenous MRI machine

New Delhi, March 25: India has developed its first indigenous MRI machine, set to be installed at AIIMS Delhi by October for trials. The move aims to reduce treatment costs and reliance on imported medical devices, as 80-85 per cent of the equipment is currently imported. The indigenous MRI machine will help make India more self-reliant in medical technology.

An MoU was also signed between the premier Institute and the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER), which was set up as an autonomous R & D laboratory at Mumbai under the Department of Electronics, Government of India for the installation of the 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner.

According to AIIMS, Delhi Director Dr M Srinivas said that, "majority of equipment in critical care, post operative care, ICU's, robotics, MRI's in India are imported equipment and 80 to 90percent of most of the gadgets high end gadgets are important because we have the best of the brains in the country, and we want to have the best of the equipment of the world also. So this is what ise AIIMS is about. So having got the best of the equipment in the world, we also feel, Can't we do that in India."

"Building the nation through the initiatives of India, we feel that, AIIMS is the ideal choice,the best place for us in the country to ,so that we meet the unmet needs and challenges of the country," he said this one step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has spearheaded the development of two critical healthcare technologies the 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner and 6 MEV Linear Accelerator, through the SAMEER as the implementing agency, in collaboration (MRI) with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Trivendrum and Kolkata, Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC) and Dayanand Sagar Institute (DSI).

The MRI scanner is a non-invasive medical imaging test used to visualize soft tissues, while the Linear Accelerator (LINAC) is utilized for cancer treatment using high-energy X-rays or electrons. Both projects have received financial support from MeitY, to make India move towards import substitution.