Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on June 4 announced signing a partnership agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi to establish a Center of Excellence for artificial intelligence in healthcare (AI-CoE). The AI-CoE will focus on developing AI-based solutions for supporting key national health programmes in the country.
“This MoU marks the beginning of far-reaching collaborative research that has the potential to change the face of healthcare in the country,” said Prof. M. Srinivas, Director, of AIIMS Delhi. “A partnership between AIIMS and IIT Delhi has the potential to transform AI for affordable healthcare. We are delighted to be shaping this national centre of excellence and hope that our output will impact the lives of Indians,” added Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, of IIT Delhi.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Prof Srinivas, and Prof. Banerjee at a ceremony held at IIT Delhi. Last year, the two institutes were awarded a grant of Rs 330 crore by the Ministry of Education under the initiative “Make AI in India, Make AI Work for India,” following a rigorous and highly competitive selection process.
The proposed Centre of Excellence will be the executing vehicle for the grant. The project aims to keep patients at the centre of and to build mechanisms that would benefit every citizen of the country.
The CoE will serve as a key research and resource center at the national and international level and aims to revolutionise the national public health system using indigenously developed AI systems and solutions, said the experts.
“We aim to develop cutting-edge AI solutions to upscale health services, upskill our healthcare providers, and improve the accessibility of quality healthcare to remote and marginalised sections of our population,” said Prof. Chetan Arora, Chief Project Manager, who will lead the AI-CoE from IIT Delhi.
IIT Delhi and AIIMS Delhi have a history of strong research collaboration, including the Centre for Advanced Research and Excellence in Disability & Assistive Technology (CARE-DAT) which is working to develop assistive technologies for persons with disabilities.