SAMEER, the Ministry of Electronics and IT’s (MeitY) R&D laboratory, and Siemens Healthineers have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will help advance healthcare and diagnostics access in India.
The MoU will be focused towards making available low-cost MRIs as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of providing quality, and affordable healthcare and diagnostic access for every Indian.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar. MRI tests are usually costly. In India the price ranges between Rs 1500 to thousands of Rupees depending on the body part being scanned and the city location.SAMEER, which is the acronym for Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research, specialises in RF microwaves radar and communication systems, E3 testing and medical electronics.
SAMEER director general P Hanumantha Rao said that the institution has been pursuing R&D in the advanced Linear accelerators for cancer therapy and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems for diagnostics.
Currently, SAMEER is developing IMRI (Indigenous Magnetic Resonance Imaging) technology under the Sushrut MRI (Indian MRI) system, said Rajesh Harsh, who is coordinating the research in MRI and Industry ecosystem.
Peter Schardt, Chief Technology Officer, Siemens Healthineers said, “The partnership will focus on fighting the most life-threatening diseases and strive to make healthcare even more efficient, sustainable, and humane for everyone across the country.”
In an effort to bring down the cost of MRIs and make it accessible to the common man, the government has forged this partnership keeping its larger affordable healthcare goal in mind.
