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MISSION ON HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGIES


Health for all has been on the priority list in our country in recent times. Several life style related disorders such as cancer, diabetes, obesity and several preventable infectious diseases are on the rise in recent years due to the ever-increasing burden of population and increase in the life expectancy. In spite of marginal increase in the per capita income, most people are not adequately resourceful to seek the best possible health care. Following the recent advances in diagnostics and engineered therapeutic drugs for the management of most diseases, health care has become highly sophisticated and prohibitively expensive to a large portion of our population. In the west, many of these developments have been possible only due to emphasis on R & D efforts by the academics in collaboration with industry. Indian industry is eager to take up the newer challenges in healthcare by sustained R & D but this lacks significant commitment due to paucity of funds that they can devote towards advanced R & D. On the other hand, premier institutions such as IITs and IISc are endowed with excellent knowledge base to take up difficult challenges in health research. In view of this, the technology development missions (TDM-I) were started in 1993 at all the IITs and IISc to foster collaborations between these premier institutions and the industry with an aim to promote development of better solutions in health care. Most of these mission projects achieved their targets in terms of deliverables. Following this success of Phase I TDM, with highest enthusiasm, all the IITs and IISc have collectively agreed to propose TDM-II. Similar to TDM-I, TDM Phase II projects envisage utilizing the combined synergy between IITs, IISc, and the Indian industry to develop innovative new technologies focusing on benefits to rural population.

The first phase of TDM provided valuable experience in dealing with real life problems in addition to leading to deliverables and technology transfers. The proposal for the present phase envisages further consolidation of these efforts and involves the Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpur, Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay, Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee. In this phase of TDM, 24 projects in the healthcare technologies that encompass a wide spectrum of problems emphasizing rural health care and education are proposed (5 from IISc, 8 from IIT-Kharagpur, 4 from IIT-Bombay, 5 from IIT-Delhi, and 2 from IIT-Roorkee). Keeping in view the nature of the projects, the mission is sub divided into 1] Therapeutics, 2] Diagnostics and devices, 3] Rehabilitation and 4] Rural health. This mission seeks an approximate outlay of Rupees 20 crores, with a 25% contribution by the Industry. The projects include developing novel therapeutic molecules for cancer, low cost anti lipidemic agents, vaccine design for tuberculosis, cost-effective diagnostics, purification of water, developing novel herbal medicines from medicinal plants, low cost medical implants and rehabilitation equipment etc. Another major emphasis is on projects that focus on dissemination of information, mass communication, and computing technologies for better health-care and health education.

Significantly, premier industries dealing with health care have committed participation in all these projects. The companies include: Dabur Research Foundation, Ghaziabad; Bijam Biosciences, Hyderabad; Biocon, Bangalore; Cadila Pharma, Ahmedabad; Bal Pharma, Bangalore; Artificial Limb Manufacturing Company, Kanpur; BBF Homecare; Tata Steel Rural Development Society (Jamshedpur); Essential Oil Association of India, New Delhi; Knight Queen Group of Industries, New Delhi; Emami group; CMC, New Delhi; Webel; etc. This second phase of TDM efforts are expected to boost the industry’s efforts to provide cheaper alternatives to health care in India and also generate intellectual property that will be beneficial to both the participating institutions and industry in the current globalization scenario. The successful implementation of the project will enable the country in knowledge-based wealth generation by combining the wisdom of the world-class faculty (in IITs & IISc), the vast natural resources and the renewed urge of Indian industries to become globally competitive.

Once completed, the current mission would certainly turn out to be an important contribution and a milestone in the development of healthcare industry in our country.

Summary of Projects


Sl No. Institution Title of the Project
1 Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Novel cancer chemopreventive/therapeutic agents derived from natural products
2 Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Expression, Characterization and large-scale production of Human Serum Albumin for clinical usage
3 Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of anti-lipemic Agents (Cholesterol Inhibitors)
4 Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Development of a Solar Detoxification System for the Treatment of Polluted Water
5 Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Personal and Hospital Ware using Lightweight Aluminium
6 Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Technology Development for production of low-cost phytomedicines: Rapid in vitro screening & characterization of novel plant metabolites
7 Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Development of a Web Based Telemedicine System
8 Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Structural and functional studies of major virulent proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis aiming at novel drug and vaccine design
9 Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Integrated Health Management System for Preventive and Promotive Health Care
10 Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Glycopolymers in Medical Application
11 Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Recovery and stabilization of a new nutraceutical and pharmaceutical compound for prevention of cardiac problem, antidepression, antidabieties and infant growth
12 Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Development of electron beam radiation cured health care items from natural rubber latex
13 Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Improved Rehabilitation Systems using Advanced Composites
14 Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Design and Development of High Performance Polymeric Composites for Artificial Limb Joints
15 Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Technology Development for the Manufacture of low-cost Medical Implants.
16 Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Bioprocess optimisation for production of phytomedicinal compounds by plant cell culture technology
17 Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Development of Smart Polymers for Targeted Release of Anticancer Drugs
18 Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Processing of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants for Primary Health Care Needs
19 Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Development of Technologies for Chlorinated Pesticides and Arsenic Mitigation in Drinking Water
20 Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Biomedical and Optical Devices for Minimally Invasive Diagnosis and Therapy
21 Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay BHASMA AS NANOPARTICULATE BIO-ACTIVE AGENTS: Quality assurance and novel synthesis
22 Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Nanoparticles and Composites for Health Care
23 Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Assembly dynamics of the Septum: A potential anti-tuberculosis drug target
24 Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee Development of a System for Mass Screening of Rural Population for Cardiac Diseases
25 Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee Bioprospecting of herbal and medicinal plants for healthcare, value addition and sustainable use of their biodiversity