Biomedical Engineering Education and Training in India - A Need for New Approach

Abstract

AbstractThe first part of this paper gives an overview of the current status of Biomedical Engineering (BME) education in India. It also provides information on some of the major academic institutions and professional bodies dealing with the BME profession. In the subsequent part, it goes on to discuss some of the limitations of BME education and suggests a new approach to overcome them. The BME education in India is mainly provided by engineering faculties of Universities and Academic Institutions, at all the three levels, namely bachelors, masters and doctoral. The Medical teaching institutions have focused on training of clinical technicians at diploma level, which is typically one level below the bachelor’s degree. This approach seems to have created a gap between the two professions with hardly any scope for interaction, especially at the level of higher education and research. Furthermore, a strong need has been felt to have professionally trained Clinical Engineers (CE) to effectively and safely manage technology in hospitals. In this context, it appears that the contribution of Professional Organizations towards education and training has been suboptimal. Thus, the limited development of indigenous healthcare technology leading to over dependence on imports and non-systematic approach towards management of healthcare technology in hospitals, can be partly attributed to these limitations of BME education in India, indicating a need to adopt new approach. This paper suggests that institutions of higher education, both in engineering and medical field, need to closely work together in providing higher education in BME. Three leading Institutions of the country have already taken a joint initiative in this direction. Furthermore, the professional bodies need to actively contribute to this new approach by developing norms for accreditation of BME education as well as establishing a nationwide Certification and Continuous Professional Development Program for CE Professionals.KeywordsBiomedical Engineering EducationClinical Engineering CertificationIndia