Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: India’s first indigenously-developed, affordable, lightweight, ultrafast, next-generation Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner was launched here by Union Minister of State for Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh, on August 1.
The machine is expected to reduce the cost of MRI scans for common man considerably, thus allowing a wider access to the otherwise highly priced diagnostic tool.
The locally made machine will serve the twin objectives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission of Atmanirbharta in cuttingedge diagnostic and therapeutic manufacturing in India and also reduce the outgo of foreign exchange on procuring the machine from the international market.
The new MRI scanner has been developed in public-private partnership mode under the National Biopharma Mission. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) spent Rs 17 crore on its development through the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and the company which has developed the scanner is Voxelgrids Innovations.
It has already received commercial sale and manufacturing licence from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
In future, said the Minister, the new machine also offers the prospect of sharing this success with other nations in global south to help them to have access to an affordable and dependable medical imaging solution.
