Allied Healthcare (GAHC)

The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) has started the admission process for the second batch of its Online Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Product Development and Management. The programme, offering a multidisciplinary learning experience from biomedical innovation to product management, is being conducted by the Centre for Biomedical Engineering, IIT Delhi. A well, structured syllabus helps students develop skills essential for turning healthcare solutions into products that can be sold in the market.

The Online Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Product Development and Management, spread over 12 months, is a perfect fit for those working or intending to work in the healthcare product industry, be it in biotechnology research, healthcare entrepreneurship, medical technology or regulatory functions. The curriculum is built with a view to providing students with the necessary skills for working in the biotech, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, healthcare IT and digital health innovation sectors. It deepens the fundamental knowledge of human anatomy and disease pathways to facilitate product conceptualization, gives students hands, on experience with materials and mechatronics for medical applications, and helps students to become better at identifying research trends and innovation opportunities in the development of healthcare products.

India's healthcare sector keeps growing at a fast pace. This is mainly due to population density, access gaps and the increasing use of technology, led delivery. According to estimates, India still needs 2.4 million hospital beds which is roughly equivalent to 2 billion sq. ft. of new healthcare infrastructures if it is to have facilities of the same level as the rest of the world. Brickwork Ratings has predicted that India's hospital sector may reach USD 202.5 billion by 2030 from a market size of USD 122.30 billion in 2025. This will mostly be attributed to rising demand, private investments, government initiatives, and the application of technologies such as AI and telemedicine. The healthcare market share of AI is anticipated to reach over 30% by 2030 from about 15% currently. Simultaneously, the market for wearable medical devices is forecasted to reach USD 184.75 billion by 2033 from the existing level of USD 42.1 billion, by 2024, driven by consumer adoption, healthcare digitalization, and smart monitoring technologies.

On announcing the second batch, Prof. Arnab Chanda, Programme Coordinator, IIT Delhi, remarked, "India's healthcare growth necessitates a workforce that is capable of making scientifically deep products which can be commercialized. This diploma equips students to transform unmet clinical needs into solutions that are validated, compliant, and commercially scalable. We fuse the engineering, clinical perspective, and product strategy through a demanding curriculum, real, life projects, and expert, led sessions, so that the participants can come up with innovations that will meet the regulatory and market standards.

Graduates, postgraduates and working professionals with BE/BTech/BCA/BIT in any engineering discipline or equivalent, BSc (or equivalent) in life sciences and related basic sciences, and MBBS, BDS, BPharm or allied disciplines can apply. The programme is also open to professionals from healthcare, biomedical, biotech or related industries with qualifications of BE/BTech/BSc/Diploma in Engineering/MBA/MCA. Participants are enabled to take up career roles like Healthcare Product Manager, Medical Technology Consultant, Regulatory Affairs Specialist, Health Data Analyst, etc.

The year- long programme offers a total of 450+ hours of learning which consist of 200 hours of live online sessions, 120 hours of practical work and projects, and a two day campus immersion. The curriculum consists of 18 academic credits over two semesters and features eight modules that cover, among other things, the following topics: Mechanics of Biomaterials, Biofabrication, Research Techniques in Biomedical Engineering, Soft Tissue Characterisation and Applications, Healthcare Wearables Design and Applications, and Healthcare Entrepreneurship and Management. Besides, learners get hands, on with Pick 3D Printer, AutoCAD, and UX/UI platforms.

Delivered by IIT Delhi faculty and industry experts, including eminent healthcare industry experts, the programme runs through live, interactive online classes and combines academic rigour with practical application. Participants engage in real-time simulations, case-based analyses and hands-on projects, with an optional two-day campus immersion designed to deepen peer learning and professional exchange. On successful completion, learners receive Affiliate Alumni Status.

About Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) is among the 23 IITs set up as Centres of Excellence for training, research, and development in science, engineering, and technology in India. The College of Engineering was the first name of this Institute when it was established in 1961. Later, the Institute was recognized as an Institution of National Importance under the "Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 1963" and was given the new name Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. It became a Deemed University with the authority to formulate its own academic policy, conduct its examinations, and award its degrees.

In the management sector, IIT Delhi has been ranked among the top 5 institutions for several years and has been ranked as the number 1 institute in Research and Professional Practice according to the NIRF 2022 and NIRF 2021 Management Category rankings respectively.

Centre for Biomedical Engineering, IIT Delhi

The Centre for Biomedical Engineering (CBME) was set up in 1971 as a collaborative project between the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. The centre has been mainly focused on using engineering concepts to come up with solutions for healthcare problems. Currently, the centre has 17 faculty members who are dedicated towards teaching and research in the areas of Biomaterials, Bioinstrumentation, Biomechanics, Medical Imaging, and Medical Implants.

The centre offers a wide range of PG programs (Ph.D., M.Tech, and MS (Research)), Executive Programs (Healthcare Entrepreneurship, Healthcare for Industry 5.0, and Robotics), Fellowship Programs (School of Biodesign and WIPO Global Health Innovation), UG courses in Healthcare Engineering, and a Minor in Biomedical Engineering.

Over the years, CBME has established strong relations with many hospitals and medical institutes in the NCR region and has trained students in emerging areas of healthcare product design and development, clinical translation, and entrepreneurship, with a focus on conception-to-commercialization of healthcare technologies, through executive and Swayam-NPTEL based courses.

This one-of-its-kind ecosystem has led students, faculty, and mentors from AIIMS to join hands to invent products and processes, file patents, and initiate technology translation and healthcare startups.

For more details, please visit: https://cbme.iitd.ac.in/

India’s healthcare industry is seeing a big shift that is being driven by digital technologies, according to a new report. The report titled ‘Beyond the stethoscope: The digital pulse of healthcare’, by Grant Thornton Bharat and the Association of Healthcare Providers (India) (AHPI), evaluates how prepared Indian hospitals are for this digital transition.

The report takes into account the perspectives of hospital executives and senior professionals and reviews the strength of existing digital infrastructure, confidence in governance and regulatory compliance, the extent of artificial intelligence adoption, organisational and workforce factors shaping transformation, and areas expected to attract future investments.

Around 95% of hospitals have implemented Hospital Information Systems (HIS),. This suggests that foundational digitisation has largely happened across the sector. Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and laboratory information systems have been adopted by roughly two-thirds of hospitals.

However, what stands out is that even with this high rate of adoption of digital systems, the automation levels remain low. Less than 25% of hospitals make use of technologies such as robotic process automation. This means that administrative processes continue to rely heavily on manual effort, and clinicians and hospital staff still face documentation and operational workload.

About 34% of hospitals at present operate with real-time enterprise dashboards. This results in slower decision cycles and reduced operational efficiency.

A large majority of respondents in the report , over 90%, identified documentation workload as the key factor accelerating digital transformation.

The report discloses that Indian hospitals have achieved significant milestones in developing basic digital capabilities. However, changes in system integration, automation, and governance practices have lagged behind technology adoption to the same extent.

Nearly 60% of hospitals are looking to increase their digital investments in the next year. The upcoming phase of transformation will be less about the deployment of new technologies and more about the effective integration of existing systems into healthcare delivery, ensuring proper governance, and allowing clinicians to use digital tools in ways that lead to improved clinical outcomes and operational performance.a

Making a point that traditional knowledge systems of India carry their own value even in the present digital era, famous media academician Sanjay Dwivedi gave a very interesting talk at LNCT University. In this talk, he showed how Indian communication traditions have always influenced journalism and mass communication, and they continue to do so even today.

Dr. Dwivedi, ex, Director of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, was the speaker of the talk Indian Knowledge Tradition and Communication, at a seminar hosted by the Indian Knowledge Tradition Cell, Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication of LNCT University, Bhopal.

Indian Communication Beyond Information Transfer

In a talk to the students and faculty members, Dr. Dwivedi emphasized that communication in India comprises much more than just the simple exchange of messages; it involves the nurturing of morals, awareness, and a commitment to the public good. Considering the ubiquity of globalisation and digital media platforms which are the major influences of the present day world, he said, it is both appropriate and imperative to review India's indigenous communication systems

Dr. Dwivedi also explained that the sacred Indian texts such as the Vedas and Upanishads, the folk traditions, and cultural narratives are naturally strong in communication features which are fundamentally based on interaction, social consciousness, and sense of responsibility. He saw these as the traditions that give the philosophical foundation to the present day media and journalism ethics in India.

Linking Tradition with Modern Media

According to Dr. Dwivedi, India's traditional knowledge system was a model of participatory communication that allowed for debate, dialogue, and collective engagement. He pointed out that the principles of ethical journalism and community centred reporting could be inspired by these precepts if modern mass communication practitioners were to take a leaf from them.

The talk was presided over by Professor Dr. Anu Srivastava, Head of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, LNCT University.

Interactive Session with Students

The lecture was wrapped up with an interesting Q&A session wherein students questioned the pertinence of Indian communication traditions when it comes to social media, digital journalism, and AI driven news dissemination.

The seminar has been a great academic stimulus for the rising interest in the fusion of Indian knowledge traditions with the contemporary media studies, thus emphasising the necessity of ethics, dialogue, and public welfare in current communication systems.

To develop India's medical research sector with technology, innovation, driven, the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IIT Hyderabad) organised a national workshop on Technological Advances in Healthcare Research for 3 days. The event went through the Anusandhan National Research FoundationPartnerships for Accelerated Innovation and Research (ANRF, PAIR) programme. The focal point of the program was to facilitate cross-disciplinary research, increase institutional collaborations, and help the use of state of, theart technologies in healthcare and biomedical sciences.

The healthcare sector of the ANRF, PAIR grant being one of the initiatives, the to the central institution is stated to be IIT Hyderabad which is also mentoring five partner or "spoke" institutionsNational Institute of Technology (NIT) Raipur, Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Raichur, IIIT Dharwad, Pt Ravishankar Shukla University, and the Central University of Andhra Pradesh. Their main goals through this working together are, to raise their research capabilities and establish long term academic and scientific structures.

The workshop had nine invited talks by renowned scientists, clinicians, and technology experts who presented on the most recent and possibly high impact areas of healthcare research. Highlights from the sessions were mass spectrometer, based metabolomics for translation medicine, in vivo imaging technologies for therapeutic development, electroencephalography (EEG) and neuromodulation, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) clinically in healthcare facilities.

Currently, the main highlight was the event that acted as a bridge between engineering, life sciences, and clinical research, and the students had the chance to witness cutting edge tools, methodologies, and real healthcare applications through the eyes of patients.

In addition to that, the workshop led to extended collaboration between the hub and spoke institutions that came about as a result of the workshop. The interactive sessions thus provided lecturers and researchers with a great chance to identify common research interests, consider partnering projects and writing up proposals targeting national healthcare priorities.

Besides, the event coordinators remarked that the programme is consistent with the bigger objective of the ANRF, PAIR initiative, which aims to accelerate innovation through fair and collaborative research partnerships between institutions from different parts of the country. Therefore, they believe that the outcomes of the workshop will be manifested in joint research projects, shared infrastructures, and improved capacity building, which in turn will significantly contribute to India's continuous emphasis on technology, based healthcare research and innovation.

In a bid to provide technology driven skills to medical and life science professionals, the University of Delhi (DU) on Wednesday unveiled an online certificate course titled "Application of Artificial Intelligence in Health Sciences".

The course was inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University, Prof. Yogesh Singh, who stressed preparing healthcare professionals for a future where artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies would be dominant. Prof. Singh said that the medical profession is being radically altered by technological changes, and educational institutions must take the lead in adapting to these changes.

Apart from clinical knowledge, future doctors will have to be well versed with the latest technologies such as AI, data analytics, and machine learning, Prof. Singh remarked, citing the universities' role in producing future, ready, tech, savvy medical graduates.

The certificate course delivered entirely online has been developed with a strong eye on the real, life applications of AI in health sciences, which cover among others, diagnostics, disease prediction, medical imaging, and healthcare data management. The programme is expected to facilitate the upskilling of doctors, researchers, healthcare professionals, as well as life science graduates, who are interested in the sector where medicine meets technology.

The university representative explained that the course is a great example of how DU is moving towards interdisciplinary and skill, based education, which is one of the main features of the world's most current trends in the healthcare and biomedical research sectors. By the combination of AI and health sciences, the university intends to lessen the gap between medical knowledge and technological innovation, thus, equipping professionals to be able to handle the needs of the modern healthcare systems.

The program is timed right with how more and more AI, based solutions are being integrated in hospitals, research institutions, and public health programs both in India and worldwide.

Odisha has come to a critical juncture both in terms of higher education and industrial development. On the one hand, the State has been successful in gradually broadening its technical and professional education sectors. However, it still does not have a nationally recognized institution that could serve as a cornerstone for high, level pharmaceutical education and research.

The lack of a National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) is restricting Odishas capability to unlock the full potential of its pharmaceutical sector.

The insistence on establishing a NIPER in Odisha is neither a recent nor a trend driven idea. Since 2012, various academic circles and professional organizations, including the Odisha Pharmaceutical Industries Forum (OPIF) and the Indian Pharmaceutical Graduates Association (IPGA), have been on a continuous swing of this issue at the forefront.

The proposal was officially submitted to the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers at the time when Mr Srikant Jena was the Minister, and the argument has been taken up at the national level.

Later, the then Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik communicated to the Centre the States willingness along with the commitment to provide institutional support and make available the required infrastructure.

Odisha’s claim rests not merely on precedent but on proven capacity. The State has a long history of supporting pharmaceutical education, starting from the 17th century, and presently is home to a large network of pharmacy institutions that together contribute a huge number of diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate graduates annually. However, the lack of a research oriented national institution like a NIPER has resulted in a continuous flow of skilled people from the State to others for advanced education and research. This persistent leakage of human capital makes local research ecosystems weaker, hampers productive industry, academia collaboration, and limits the establishment of innovation, driven pharmaceutical enterprises in Odisha.

A NIPER in Odisha would be able to fill these structural holes. It would enhance postgraduate and doctoral education, increase pharmaceutical and translational research, and help create closer industry, academic institution partnerships. Importantly, it would also help correct regional imbalances in the distribution of national research institutions. Eastern India remains under- served in pharmaceutical education and innovation despite its growing industrial and human resource base, and Odisha is well positioned to serve as a regional anchor. There have been recent events that have given extra weight to this demand that has lasted for a long time. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has requested the Central Government to consider the setting up of a NIPER in Odisha, referring to the states growing educational ecosystem and the importance of the state in geopolitical terms.

The decision of the Centre to allocate funds through the budget to three new NIPERs under the Biopharma SHAKTI initiative is evidence enough of the suitability of Odisha in this context, especially considering the governments declared goal of making Eastern India a significant contributor to national growth. At the level of the State government, the present administration has on several occasions emphasized the development of Odisha as a pharmaceutical and healthcare hub through policy support and research, led growth.

The State Health Minister has communicated to the Legislative Assembly that a suitable plot of land at the State capital has been proposed for the creation of a NIPER, thus indicating the readiness of the administration. The moment for deliberation has passed; what Odisha now requires is decisive action. Through continuous efforts of advocacy, evidence of preparedness, agreement between the political parties, and clear national relevance, the case for setting up a NIPER in Odisha is both compelling and thorough.

The central government must grab this chance to turn words into action by giving the green light and fast, tracking the setting up of a NIPER in the state. Besides fulfilling the promise that has been made for a long time, it will also open the eastern region of India to the pharmaceutical market potential, keep and develop the local talent, and make India stronger in healthcare and life sciences through self, reliance.

A NIPER in Odisha would be an exemplary model of inclusive development wherein the visionary policy and purposeful execution would meet. The rest is a timely and decisive action from the centre.

With readiness of the institution, political consensus, and national relevance thoroughly established, the case for a NIPER in Odisha is hard to ignore. Green, lighting and fast, tracking the establishment of such an institution would not only be a tribute to the commitments made over the years but also a way to unlock the pharmaceutical potential of eastern India, keep and develop local talent, and make India self, reliant in healthcare and life sciences. A NIPER in Odisha would be a strong symbol of inclusive development, a place where policy vision and purposeful execution meet.