CHENNAI : Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has launched India’s First ‘medical devices calibration facility on wheels’. This has been developed by IIT Madras under its ‘Anaivarukkum IITM’ (IITM for all) Initiatives.

Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, launched this facility at the campus today (15th April 2024) in the presence of Prof. R. Sarathi, Dean (Planning), Prof. M. Anbarasu (Head, CEC), Prof. S. Ramakrishnan, faculty and students.

Highlighting the importance of this initiative, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, “Proper Diagnosis and treatment are extremely important and for that the medical devices need to be calibrated accurately and frequently. With escalating cost for calibration this effort not only reduces the cost of calibration but also the transportation cost and time required. This is a progressive step towards affordable, scalable, quality health care for all.”

Maintenance and quality assurance of life-saving medical devices are of paramount importance for healthcare delivery. Calibration is crucial as it ensures the accuracy of medical instruments for precise disease diagnosis and effectiveness. This facility is first-of-its-kind in India and is geared towards providing an affordable quality calibration facility and enabling accurate disease diagnosis and treatment.

This mobile facility will ensure pervasive quality healthcare irrespective of geographical locations across the country. This will help to test and maintain medical devices that are used in wide range of hospitals including those in villages at their doorsteps.

This initiative boosts the United National Sustainable Development Goal 3, which calls for Health and well-being for all.

The infrastructure available in this mobile unit include state-of-the-art equipment to test the safety of medical devices and their functionalities as per international standards.