The dream of IIT Kharagpur to start a medical college is set to become reality, with the institute receiving a central grant of Rs 230 crore for a 400-bedded super-speciality hospital.

The hospital, which will be part of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy Institute of Medical Science and Research, is likely to be functional in two years. Institute sources said the number of beds would later be increased to 750.

Once the hospital starts functioning, the institute will offer MBBS, MD, MS and DM courses, all approved by the Medical Council of India. Officials said the teaching module at the medical college, which will have a tie-up with the University of California, San Diego, and Johns Hopkins University, will comprise elements of modelling, simulation and virtual reality to produce tech-savvy doctors.

The IIT, set to be the first among the 15 such ace engineering institutions in the country to start a medical college, now provides indoor and outdoor medical facilities for common ailments at BC Roy Technology Hospital, located at the heart of the campus.

Critical patients are referred to Kharagpur Sub-divisional Hospital or South-Eastern Railway General Hospital, around 2km from the campus.

The IIT now runs School of Medical Science and Technology that provides a platform for interdisciplinary teaching and research in medical science and technology. The school offers a three-year masters programme in medical science and technology for doctors, again a first of its kind in the country.

IIT officials said Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy Institute of Medical Science and Research, the foundation stone for which was laid in 2007 by then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, would bring the diverse disciplines of engineering and medicine together and focus on biomedical, clinical and translational research. Drug design and delivery will be another thrust area.

In the first phase, the institute, which will focus more on postgraduate than undergraduate study, will have a bio-innovation centre, which will be a hub of research in biomedical engineering and remote healthcare delivery, and a healthcare outreach unit.

The unit will extend healthcare to remote, under-served areas through remote diagnostic, telepathology, teleradiology and other diagnostic tools compatible with the cellular network. A series of small healthcare kiosks manned by paramedics will be linked to the outreach unit, said an official.

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Medical college at ace tech school