IIT Guwahati, Assam govt sign agreement for advanced healthcare institute

GUWAHATI: The Assam government and the Indian Institute Of Technology (IIT) Guwahati on Friday entered into an agreement to set up a state-of-the-art healthcare institute that will leverage advanced technologies to transform medical science. Under the partnership, a research institute and post-graduate medical college, offering degrees, and a 350-bedded multi-speciality hospital will be set up in the existing IIT Guwahati campus with an outlay of Rs 546 crore.

The pact, touted to be the first of its kind for the establishment of such a research institution, was signed at the IITG campus at Amingaon in Kamrup district in the presence of the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, among others.

Pradhan said 'Assam Advanced Healthcare Innovation Institute'(AAHII) will usher in a new era of healthcare and medical research for the entire northeastern region. He complimented the Assam government and IIT Guwahati on this "landmark day for public policy & good governance" on Twitter, terming the signing of the MoU as a historic occasion.

"The world-class multi-speciality hospital at @IITGuwahati and the NERC 2022 will help bring global expertise, usher in a new era of healthcare and medical research in the region and lay a strong foundation for India to become a knowledge-based society,” Pradhan wrote, after also inaugurating the North East Research Conclave (NERC) 2022 at the same venue.

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Sarma explained that his government has committed Rs 546 crore for the project while IITG will contribute the required land and expertise. "A momentous day for Assam as we signed an MoU with @IITGuwahati, in presence of Union Education Minister Shri @dpradhanbjp ji, to establish the first-of-its-kind Assam Advanced Healthcare Innovation Institute (AAHI) with an integrated multi-speciality 350-bed hospital," Sarma tweeted after the programme.

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He added that the AAHI would mark a new paradigm in interdisciplinary medical research and innovations, which will enhance India’s medical tech industry in the coming years. According to a government official, the focus of the partnership will be the intersection of engineering, medical sciences and industry 4.0 technologies, along with research collaboration with global universities on stem cell therapy, diagnostics, therapeutics, molecular biology and regenerative medicine. The official said that emphasis will also be given to artificial intelligence, wearable health monitoring devices, bionics, robotic surgery, and simulation labs.