Dr Jitendra launches India’s first indigenous MRI Scanner, underlines affordable healthcare

STATE TIMES NEWS

NEW DELHI: In a medical breakthrough, Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh on Tuesday launched India’s first indigenously developed, affordable, lightweight, ultrafast, high field (1.5 Tesla), next generation Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanner.
Dr Jitendra said, as an indigenous MRI scanner is made available, the cost of MRI scanning is expected to reduce considerably for the common man thus allowing a wider access to the otherwise highly priced MRI scans.
He said, additionally, the capital investment of procurement of MRI scanners from the international market will be substantially reduced which in turn will save a lot of foreign exchange, the twin mission objectives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the overall objective of Atma Nirbharta in cutting edge diagnostic and therapeutic manufacturing in India.
The Minister said, in coming years, there will be “Make in India-Made for the World”.
Dr Jitendra said that it is indeed a milestone achievement for National Biopharma Mission (NBM), Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) as we unveil the first indigenously developed state-of-the-art MRI Scanner under Public-Private Partnership mode.
The Minister said, India will address many of these problems by making available the first indigenously developed MRI Scanner which is affordable compared to the already available machines.
In his address, Secretary, DBT, Dr Rajesh Gokhale said that Department of Biotechnology (DBT) through its various programs has made enormous efforts in strengthening the biopharma sector with attention to devices and diagnostics ecosystem India.