Healthcare – The KGP Chronicle

On the eve of National Doctor’s Day, IIT Kharagpur inks a MoU with AIIMS Kalyani on medical amenities and research collaboration

On the propitious occasion of National Doctor’s Day, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Kalyani, a beacon of medical excellence under the aegis of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, created by an Act of Parliament under the initiative of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY). The MoU was signed in the august presence of Dr. Ramji Singh, Executive Director, AIIMS Kalyani and Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur along with Dr. Kalyan Goswami, Head, Department of Biochemistry and Dean, Academics, AIIMS Kalyani; Col. (Dr.) Ajay Mallick, Head, Dept. of ENT & Medical Superintendent, AIIMS Kalyani; Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti, Dean, Faculty of Bio-Technology and Bio-Sciences; Prof. Soumen Das, Dean, Dr. B. C. Roy Multi-Speciality Medical Research Centre and Prof. Debashish Chakravarty, Associate Dean, Alumni Affairs, International Relations & Branding.

The two premier Institutes in their respective domains have, in principle, agreed for institutional collaboration in education, research outreach programmes and medical services. The primary objective of this collaboration is to promote collective and collative teaching and research collaboration involving faculty members and students at IIT KGP and at AIIMS Kalyani to ensure teaching and research of highest medical standard, carry out joint academic and research programmes, joint supervision of masters and doctoral students as well as collaborative research projects.

On the lines of the above collaboration, Dr. Ramji Singh, Executive Director, AIIMS Kalyani remarked, “AIIMS Kalyani was conceived with the noble objective of bridging regional disparities in tertiary healthcare and fostering excellence in medical education promoting ground-breaking research. AIIMS Kalyani stands as a testament to India’s commitment to healthcare and aims to develop collaborative programmes with premier institutions in India like IIT Kharagpur where the undergraduate and graduate medical students, researchers, doctors and faculty members will rise up to the occasion to lead the healthcare system of India.”

Both the institutes agreed to share professional expertise for infrastructure development and academic resources along with collaborative activities concerning Dr. B. C. Roy Multi-specialty Medical Research Centre (BCRMMRC) at IIT Kharagpur after detailed evaluation by both institutions and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Education, Govt of India. Micro-Specialization and Micro-Credit Courses may be designed for the undergraduate and postgraduate students of the two institutions on a collaborative basis with a vision of appraising them about recent developments in advanced topics relevant to their respective domains of study and internships at respective institutes.

Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur remarked, “On this auspicious day of National Doctor’s Day, IIT Kharagpur joined hands with AIIMS Kalyani on the lines of establishing a research driven medical college, Dr. B. C. Roy Multi-Speciality Medical Research Centre (BCRMMRC) and a hospital, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Superspecialty Hospital (SPMSH) within its campus at Kharagpur. The upcoming medical college will be equipped with state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities embedding world standard technologies and IT connectivity in providing a stimulating academic environment for faculty members willing to stretch their clinical boundaries. The primary objective of this endeavour is to run Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical programs and to nurture world class translational medical research in a multi-disciplinary environment in collaboration with allied academic partners like AIIMS Kalyani. The hospital in the first phase has started out-patient service, and the in-patient services with critical care and operation theatre to follow.”

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Edited By : Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

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Sustainable Alternatives in Energy, Environment & Healthcare for Science & Society

INDO-US, INDO-AUSTRALIA AND INDO-CANADA INTERDISCIPLINARY WORKSHOPS AT IIT KHARAGPUR

The Bioprocess & Bioproduct Development Laboratory of the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur along with the collaborators from USA, Australia, and Canada organized three days workshop under the Government of India’s Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) from 24th to 26th February 2023. The workshops were inaugurated by Prof. Amit Patra, Deputy Director, IIT Kharagpur in the august presence of Dr. Prachi Kaul, Director, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute and Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti, Dean BTBS, IIT Kharagpur. The workshop saw a footfall of more than 80 participants from both within and outside the horizons of IIT Kharagpur. Sustainable Alternatives in Energy, Environment, and Healthcare for the well-being of Science and Society was the theme of the three different workshops that spanned across the institute.

Pic : Inaugural session of the Indo-US SPARC Workshop (L-R) – Professor Warren D. Seider from the University of Pennsylvania was present online; Prof. Amit Patra, Deputy Director, IIT Kharagpur; Prof. N. R. Jana, HOD, Department of Biotechnology and Prof. Ramkrishna Sen, Department of Biotechnology (Convener) were present physically for the inauguration ceremony.

The three day long programme witnessed 20 speakers from 10 National and International universities and institutes accompanied by eminent industry leaders. On 24th February 2023, the first of the series INDO-US workshop was initiated on ‘Algaeneering for Global Energy and Climate Challenge’, jointly organized by the Bioprocess and Bioproduct Development Laboratory (BBDL) at IIT Kharagpur and the University of Pennsylvania, USA wherein academia researchers and industry experts across India and the US discussed the challenges, avenues, and technologies in research, development & innovations and techno-commercial assessment of renewable energy sectors.

Prof. Warren D. Seider, a world-renowned Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania delivered a plenary lecture. The other speakers at the workshop were Prof. K. K. Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee; Prof. Pinaki Bhattacharyya Emeritus Professor, Head, R&D, Chemical Engineering, Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata; Dr. Anindita Moitra, Chief General Manager, Indian Oil Corporation Limited; Dr. Sangeeta Srivastava, Executive Director, Godavari Biorefineries Ltd., Karnataka and Dr. Harshad R. Velankar, Chief Manager, Bioprocess Group, Hindustan Petroleum Green R & D Center, Bengaluru.

Pic : Inaugural session of the Indo-AUS SPARC Workshop (L-R): Prof. Saswat Chakraborty, Dean BTBS, IIT Kharagpur; Prof. D. N. Singh, IIT Bombay; Prof. N. R. Jana, HOD, Department of Biotechnology and Prof. Ramkrishna Sen (Convener) in the inauguration ceremony.

Under the aegis of SPARC, the second day of the INDO-AUSTRALIA workshop scheduled on 25th February 2023 focused on ‘Bioinspired Solutions for Natural & Built Environment: Science, Society & Wellbeing.’ The Australian collaborators under the SPARC program from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Curtin University; Prof. Abhijit Mukherjee and Dr. Navdeep Dhami joined hands with the experts from India, Prof. Devendra Narain Singh, D. L. Shah Chair Professor for Innovation, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay; Prof. Brajadulal Chattopadhyay, Professor, Jadavpur University; Mr. Ramananda Adhikari, Deputy General Manager, Hindustan Copper Limited, Kolkata and Dr. Santanu Dasgupta, Senior Vice President, Reliance Technology Group, Reliance Industries Limited, Mumbai put forth a series of insightful talks.

Pic : Dr. Santanu Dasgupta, Senior Vice President, Reliance Technology Group, Reliance Industries Limited, Mumbai, India delivering his plenary talk online

A multidisciplinary concerted effort and partnership between educational institutions and industries was deemed to be instrumental in advancing research and development was highlighted in these workshops through the active participation of three PSUs including Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) and two private industry market players Reliance and Godavari Biorefineries. These industry experts visited algal biomass production facility, a demo park created under the ambit of IMPRINT-IIA scheme (DST-SERB) between IIT Kharagpur and HPCL.

The INDO-CANADA workshop was held on 26th February 26, 2023 with the funding supports from Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SICI) and SPARC on the theme ‘Green/Bio-polymers as renewable and sustainable alternatives to Petro-plastics: Energy-Environment-Healthcare Nexus’ with the active involvement of Prof. Sudip Kumar Rakshit, Canada Research Chair Professor, Bioenergy & Biorefining Research Institute, Lakehead University, Canada and Prof. Satinder Kaur Brar, James & Joanne Love Chair in Environmental Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Canada. Enthralling talks were also delivered by Dr. Santanu Dasgupta, Senior Vice President, Reliance Technology Group, Reliance Industries Limited, Mumbai, India; Prof. Prashant Mishra, Former Head, Department of Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi; Prof. Dipankar Chattopadhyay, Former Head, Department of Polymer Science & Technology, University of Calcutta, and Dr. Krishna Chattopadhyay, Jadavpur University and Anchor, DD Bangla, Doordarshan Kendra, Kolkata. Dr. Santanu Das Gupta gave virtual demonstration of their state-of-the-art biorefinery facility, highlighting the challenges and mentioning the need and scopes of Industrial-Academia collaborations.

Pic : Prof. Sen demonstrating the high-rate algal pond, one-of-its-kind facility to capture the industrial emissions and valorize towards biofuels and healthcare products.

Participants delivered oral presentations of their research work in the three day workshops where Prof. Sen’s doctoral students, Mr. Romit Mitra and Ms. Ankita Debnath presented their work on algal biorefinery and bio-cementation perspectives, respectively.

Pic : Group photo at the valedictory session on Day 3

Prof. Ramkrishna Sen, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur & Convener of the workshops remarked, “All the workshops were well organized by the members of the Bioprocess & Bioproduct Development Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur which acknowledges Mr. Satyanarayana Reddy Battula, Dr. Chinmay Hazra and Dr. Debasree Kundu for their tremendous efforts and ground level coordination. Financial supports accorded by SPARC, an initiative of the Ministry of Education, GoI as well as the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SICI) thus, paved the platform for developing an exciting research ecosystem through cohesive academic and research collaborations was well received by the overwhelming participants. “

Input By : Prof. Ramkrishna Sen, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur
Email: rksen@bt.iitkgp.ac.in

Edited By : Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

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IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester Rolls out its first batch of Dual Doctoral Students

IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester is proud to roll-out its first batch of Dual Ph.D students for autumn 2021. The news of this prestigious association was first announced in April, 2021 highlighting the unique character of the Programme. All facets of the programme including selection, admission, supervision and evaluation has been jointly administered with perfect synchronicity by competent authorities on both sides.

Owing to the pandemic disruptions in 2020-21 and because of the programme protocol that required selected students to spend their first year at IITKGP, in its first year the programme was open to only Indian students satisfying the eligibility criteria. The partners are optimistic that in the following years when travel restrictions are lifted and normalcy is restored world-wide, the programme will be made available to international applicants as well.

For IITKGP-UMan Dual Doctoral Programme, jointly supervised projects were chosen from across a number of thematic areas including computational chemistry, healthcare and medical technologies, environmental geochemistry, biomaterials and Industry 4.0.

The selection process involved a rigorous multiple level review and evaluation by the Joint Programme Board comprising of the Deans and Associate Deans of both the institutions. All 50 applicants had commendable credentials and it was a difficult task for the selection committee to select the five final awardees based on the understanding of their projects, a short verbal presentation on their proposed research and plans, and a concluding Question & Answer session.

Prof. G.P. Rajasekhar, Dean Faculty of Science and a member of the selection committee feels, “Selecting the 5 awardees was the most difficult decision we had to make because all of them were outstanding. The rigor of the selection process indeed made this a very prestigious programme for students across the country.”

Mr. Aniruddha Das and Mr. Sumanta Laha who have completed their Masters from IITKGP, will be associated with the Departments of Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering respectively. While Mr. Das will be working on, ‘Transition Metal Mediated Difunctionalization of Arynes’ under the joint supervision of Dr. Ganesh Venkataraman at IITKGP and Prof. Michael Greaney from Manchester; Mr Laha will be working on Hydrodynamics of Prosthetic Mechanical Heart Valves to investigate the hydrodynamics of a mechanical heart valve in an effort to develop an ideal design of the valve to enhance the life expectancy and improve the quality of the patient’s life style.

Sumanta believes, “I am not only happy but also lucky to receive such a prestigious scholarship from IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester. Though the selection processes was rigorous, it was quite interesting. With this scholarship, it has become my responsibility to complete the project and contribute to the area of cardiovascular research which may help the doctors save lives around the globe.”

Mr. Shubhra K. Nandi another final awardee, who has completed his Masters from IIT Ropar, will be working on a project titled, ‘Development of novel metal/ceramic composites via laser-assisted additive manufacturing processing for advanced surface engineering applications’ at the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department of IITKGP. He will be supervised by Dr-Ing. Siddhartha Roy (IITKGP) and Prof. Philip Withers (UMan) as Principal Investigators, and Prof. Indranil Manna (IITKGP) and Prof. Allan Matthews (UMan) as Co-Principal Investigators. Nandi expresses an “ardent desire to contribute to the field of additive manufacturing and advanced materials” and feels that the project is very much aligned with his interests.

Ms. Juhi Srivastava from IIT Jodhpur and Ms. Anjali Srivastava from IIT Guwahati were among the other awardees of this prestigious scholarship. Ms. Srivastava, who would also be affiliated to the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department of IITKGP, will be working on, ‘Microstructural effects on environmentally assisted cracking in model 7xxx alloys.’ Juhi opined, “I really appreciate the assistance and financial aid and cannot express my gratitude enough. With this scholarship, I am able to set higher goals for myself and push myself harder.”

Ms. Anjali Jayakumar will be conducting her project work at the School of Nano Science and Technology IIT Kharagpur, followed by the Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, at University of Manchester. She will be working on the ‘Synthesis of graphene and graphene-based composites using agriculture waste for desalination’. Through her research, Anjali will attempt to tackle the global water scarcity phenomenon by employing advanced materials such as graphene to desalinate seawater and counter the rising demand of pure drinking water. Anjali feels delighted as she will be getting a unique opportunity to work with two different research teams of two different world class institutions during her doctoral research. Anjali feels, “I have always wanted to pursue my doctoral research on a topic with a great societal impact. I am excited as my project strives to tackle the world water crisis, one of the grandest challenges of recent times.”

The five awardees will spend their first and third year of study at IITKGP punctuated by year 2 at Manchester and year 4 at Manchester again. Upon successfully defending the thesis as per regulations at both the institutions, the Doctoral Degree will be jointly awarded by both the Institutions.

Dr. David Polya, Associate Dean for Internationalization, who has been the chief architect of this Joint Programme from University of Manchester strongly feels that, “The JDP between IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester represents a mutually beneficial partnership for two institutions that are drawn together both by strong similarities and also highly complementary differences. Both institutions are driven by an ambition to achieve not only research excellence but also for their research and teaching to have a positive practical impact on the world. Both institutions take an immense pride in their graduates and have influential alumni networks spanning the globe. And, of course, there are also differences – not just in the countries in which they are based, but also the way in which things are done. What has been very heart-warming about this JDP is the goodwill that has existed between those involved in sharing the design and implementation of the JDP – we have a lot to learn from each other and the widespread goodwill and flexibility has created conditions where we can readily swap best practice. Most importantly, as our first cohort of JDP PhD research students are recruited, we are confident that the JDP will soon be producing highly trained doctoral graduates of which both institutions will be immensely proud.”

On the other side of the aisle, Dr. Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Associate Dean, International Relations & Ranking, who was instrumental is driving this partnership and formulating the selection process at IITKGP is delighted with the launch of this programme. “We at IIT Kharagpur are delighted to launch this prestigious and unique programme with one of the top ranked universities in the world. I am deeply indebted to my predecessor, Prof. Baidurya Bhattacharya who played a key role in the formative stages of this partnership. To be considered by Univ. of Manchester as an equal partner, is a matter of great pride for us and goes to show the high esteem that our students and faculty are held worldwide.”

As an integral aspect of IITKGP’s concerted effort towards internationalization strategy, the start of this esteemed programme marks IITKGP’s entry into the United Kingdom after running successful initiatives with its preferred partners in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Both IITKGP and University of Manchester are optimistic that the start of the Dual Doctoral Programme will usher further opportunities of academic and research collaboration between the partners in areas of mutual interest and will go a long way in solving shared problems of an increasingly complex world.

Content Writer:- Koushiki Mukherjee, Office of International Relations.

Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant

Email: media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282004

National Webinar on Leveraging Technology for Good Governance at IIT Kharagpur on 30.09.2021

The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur invites you to attend the National Webinar on “Leveraging Technology for Good Governance”, on September 30, 2021 (Thursday) on virtual platform from 09:55 AM to 02:55 PM. The event is being organised as a part of the Completion of Programs on Good Governance, organised by the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education.

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Hon’ble Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship & Electronics and Information Technology, will be the Chief Guest and will also present the inaugural address.

Shri Rakesh Ranjan, Additional Secretary of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education will put forth his points of view regarding the topic entitled Leveraging Technology for Good Governance.

Professor Subhasis Chaudhuri, the Director of IIT Bombay will be the keynote speaker.

There will be three technical sessions on the different subjects whose experts from the relevant field will discuss and bring out a roadmap for the next level of technology development and resource generation.

Session I: Leveraging Technology for Healthcare (11:50 AM- 12:50 PM)

Session II: Leveraging Technology for Education and Administration (12:50 PM- 01:50 PM)

Session III: Leveraging Technology for Agriculture and Manufacturing (01:50 PM- 02:50 PM)

You can attend the webinar via this link:

https://youtu.be/oFHz2WqZEBM

Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant

Email: media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282004

IIT Kharagpur Researchers Develop Painless Drug Delivery and Vaccination Device

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Do invasive medications make you anxious because of the pain? You may not have to worry anymore – microneedles and micropump developed by IIT Kharagpur will enable your medications to be administered in a painless way. Researchers at the Institute’s Dept. of Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineering have developed a micropump and microneedle which are integral parts of transdermal drug delivery systems capable of administering large and viscous drug molecules in a painless way. The innovation will further enable transdermal application of COVID-19 vaccine.

Painless transdermal drug delivery has been a success story for decades in the USA and several other countries. In recent years, in order to expand its scope, the scientific community has been working towards developing microneedles with diameters smaller than a hair strand. The hollow microneedles operate by means of a pressurized and controlled micropump delivering the drug through the skin. The micropump pushes out the drug in the reservoir through the microneedle array. The microneedles are painless as they are too small to touch the nerves in the skin and induce pain reactions.

The innovation by IIT Kharagpur has not only reduced the diameter size of the microneedles but has also increased the strength so that they do not break while penetrating the skin.

Prof. Tarun Kanti Bhattacharyya, Dept. of Electronics & Electrical Communications Engineering

Explaining the novelty of the innovation, lead researcher Prof. Tarun Kanti Bhattacharyya said, “We have fabricated high strength glassy carbon microneedles which can withstand the skin resistive forces. Added to this is our designing of the ionic polymer metal composite membrane based micropump which increases the flow rate of the drug molecules in a controlled and precise manner. We have further integrated this microneedle and micropump to achieve controlled drug delivery.” [Contact Researcher]

3d printed integrated drug delivery device test structure

The microneedles are fabricated using SU-8 precursor and converting them by means of Carbon Microelectromechanical (C-MEMS techniques to glassy carbon microneedles with outer diameter 55 micrometre, inner diameter 35 micrometre. This process further enhanced the quality, strength and biocompatibility of the product with eight-times increased hardness, 4.8 times increased mechanical stiffness (Young’s modulus), 418 times higher compressive strength and 363 times higher bending strength than the skin resistive forces. It showed a flow rate of 0.012 microlitre per second of deionized water at 8 kilopascal. The other segment of the device, the micropump, has been designed as a flat-walled nozzle diffuser made from ionic polymer metal composite membrane with gold coating. This micropump achieved a flow rate of 30 microlitre per minute at 5V square wave at 0.1Hz.

Vaccine applicator

“The device would find extensive use in any form of transdermal medication. A typical use could be achieved in insulin delivery or medication for diseases of the lymphatic system, skin including some forms of cancer, or even COVID-19 vaccine” remarked Prof. Bhattacharyya.

The drug delivery device has been successfully tested with animals as per medical protocol. The researchers have also filed for a patent in India and published the research in IEEE and Nature journals. The research for this innovation was funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) and Dept. of Science of Technology, Govt. of India.

Jet issuing out of microneedle at 8 KPa

“The more we engage in multidisciplinary R&D, the better we would be able to produce customized microneedle based effective delivery systems,” he further added, hoping to transform the drug delivery system from the current syringe based one to a painless but effective experience for the patients.

Project Information: Prof. Tarun Kanti Bhattacharyya, tkb@ece.iitkgp.ac.in

Institute Related: Prof. B N Singh, registrar@hijli.iitkgp.ac.in;

Media Outreach: Shreyoshi Ghosh, shreyoshi@adm.iitkgp.ac.in;

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Stepping-up Health Tech

IIT KGP and ICMR Collaboration for Mega Boost to Medical Technology Industry and Healthcare Ecosystem of India

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IIT Kharagpur is going to set up a Centre of Excellence on Medical Device and Diagnostics to foster innovation of affordable and indigenous medical devices and diagnostics in priority areas and promote entrepreneurship. The proposal has recently been accepted for funding of ₹20 crore by Indian Council of Medical Research.

In January 2020, ICMR had given a call for setting up a Centre of Excellence based on which IIT Kharagpur had proposed for the set up with thrust areas encompassing artificial intelligence in healthcare, medical devices for screening and diagnostics in healthcare, medical implants, biosensors in healthcare etc.

“We thank ICMR, the apex body of Government of India spearheading biomedical research, for entrusting us with this responsibility. We look forward to working closely with ICMR and making meaningful contributions through these efforts. We had a rewarding experience in engaging with ICMR through a pilot ICMR – IIT Kharagpur MedTech internship program that drew great interest among engineering and medical students,” said Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur.

India’s population size makes her healthcare challenges particularly the needs of the marginalized population in remote areas, unique, which require indigenous solutions. Accessibility and affordability have to be two key pillars of India’s medical technology development efforts. The coming together of ICMR and IIT Kharagpur is expected to give a big boost to already initiated R & D efforts at IIT Kharagpur that aim to lessen the burden of present pandemic. Further in the long run, this association will help the Institute achieve the goals set for the upcoming Dr. B C Roy Institute of Medical Science & Research, a R & D driven super-speciality hospital followed by the first of its kind medical college in the IIT system.

“Recently we heard that people residing in nearby areas of West Bengal and neighboring states of Jharkhand and Odisha are feeling hopeful that the burden of accessing healthcare facilities on patients and their families would be reduced with the upcoming superspecialty hospital of IIT Kharagpur. This can be taken further by catering to the need of a patient to visit a hospital through technology enabled healthcare at home and local level. The ICMR-IIT KGP Centre of Excellence will carry this responsibility forward with the much needed boost by bringing medical and technology domains together” said Director Tewari.

The centre will target to develop marketable technologies in a mission oriented time frame and use this experience to achieve longer-term goals to address challenging problems in the field of medical devices and diagnostics. Also, new intellectual property generation and a clearly defined licensing path will be the priority of the centre. Further the centre will try to extend medical technology related support to other organizations including different centres of ICMR.

For Project Information: Prof. Goutam Saha, gsaha@ece.iitkgp.ac.in

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IIT KGP Lends Support to COVID Quarantine

The super-specialty hospital of IIT Kharagpur, to be named after Dr. B C Roy, has become COVID Quarantine Centre for Inter-state Travelers to West Bengal

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IIT Kharagpur’s super-specialty hospital has been busy for the past few weeks. While the facility is yet to be operationalized, who are these people walking into the hospital?

About a month back, with the announcement of the lockdown, a large influx of people moved to the borders of Bengal from various southern states with medical documents. They were patients and their families returning from Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Vellore after undergoing treatment or health check-ups. As per hygiene and safety protocols they were scheduled to be tested for COVID. But testing about 300 people would have taken extensive facilitation for the local state administration. Here is where IIT Kharagpur came to the rescue. About 9200 sq.m. area spread over two floors of the superspecialty hospital of IIT Kharagpur was made available to the district administration of Paschim Medinipur to be used as a quarantine facility for these passerbys.

The phase I of the IIT Kharagpur super specialty hospital was scheduled to start its outpatient department in June-July. Following this, the phase with 400 beds was planned to be extended with the launch of inpatient specialties encompassing Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Orthopaedics, Medical & Surgical Gastroenterology, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Urology and Nephrology. The phase II was scheduled at a later stage with an additional 350 beds and Comprehensive Cancer Care, Radiology etc.

Registrar Prof. Bhrigu Nath Singh said, “We were ready with the structural construction though the handover from the construction company L&T was not taken due to some LAN, integration of modular OTs and few service lifts related works which are going on and expected to be completed shortly after lockdown period is over. Most of the medical equipment for OPD was already procured, hiring of medical doctors/visiting consultants/staff was going on since last year, advertisements were already placed for Medical Superintendent and Chief Administrative Officer.”

Due to COVID lockdown the plan had to be stalled. The work can now be resumed only after the situation normalizes following a revised schedule with the OPD launch expected to be postponed until the end of this year.

Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur who has been busy reaching out to campus residents and students in small groups shared his delight to have been able to facilitate this initiative.

“The upcoming hospital is rightly being used to serve its cause towards the healthcare of the people even before its launch. We received a request from the office of the District Magistrate about three weeks back and immediately communicated our agreement towards it. We are in contact with district administration and the local community and ready to offer necessary help within our capacity,” he said.

What made the hospital appropriate for COVID quarantine?

Vaibhav Chaudhary, IAS, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Kharagpur said, “We had about 300 people coming in after the lockdown was implemented and they were stuck at the border as they could not travel further into the state without being tested for COVID. While we could test 50 samples in a day, we needed a facility to accommodate the others. The hospital facility was well suited for the purpose with the huge available area, built-in structure, adequate toilets, electricity. Even the elevators were put into operation.”

He further remarked, “the location of the hospital was a vantage point as it is away from inhabited rural areas due to which we could avoid any speculation among the local community regarding accommodating these people.”

Chaudhary confirmed building temporary wooden compartments to ensure social distancing within the allocated areas. The district administration had also arranged for meals and other necessary items for those accommodated in this facility.

“We shall continue to use the facility for further batches of people coming in for reasons as considered acceptable to the state administration,” he added.

Left with a new hope

This initiative inadvertently has given a preview of IIT Kharagpur’s superspecialty hospital to the people for the first time. Those who were quarantined at the facility were not only overwhelmed witnessing the facility but also left with the hope that they might just find the answer to their prayer for best-in-class healthcare well within their reach and budget. Many of them, who are native of various remote areas in the districts of southern West Bengal, have to frequent hospitals elsewhere in India. Apart from the financial burden the journey itself takes a toll on their health. They are now pinning their hope that this hospital would become the one-stop facility for their healthcare needs.

And the corona war continues

The Indian Air Force on Sunday (May 3, 2020) held flypast and showered flowers at the Institute’s medical facility to salute the corona warriors.

The Institute apart from delving in R&D to fight COVID-19 is also engaging in social outreach to help large sections of people. Last month IIT Kharagpur also launched an initiative to support about 10000 people around the campus who are dependent on the campus for their livelihood through various temporary jobs. The alumni of the Institute are donating funds generously to sustain these people who are affected by the COVID-19 lockdown for a few months through supply of food and essential items and PPEs. The Institute has also contributed Rs. 1 crore to the PM Cares fund raised from employees and other sources. A disinfection tunnel for inbound vehicles and good carriers has also been built coupled with WHO approved sanitization facilities such as hand wash, appropriate use of PPEs.

Pandemic Healthcare Technologies Underway @IITKGP

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IIT Kharagpur has set up research funding for R&D work related to COVID-19. The Institute submitted a list of projects to the IIT Council last week of which 8 projects have been selected.

Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India appreciated and acknowledged the initiative by the Institute on his social media handle congratulating the Director Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari and his team of researchers.

Talking about the initiative Director Tewari said “It is our responsibility to improve the quality of life of the last person in the society. While we built some quick technologies to cater to the immediate needs of the essential service providers at the campus, we were simultaneously preparing project proposals and evaluating them keeping in mind the immediate need of the country, cost and product delivery period.”

The researchers would be working on several technologies including design and development of rapid diagnostic kit, real-time PCR machine, body suit for COVID-19 patients, personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and portable shredder integrated with sterilizer, Hazmat Suit with forced purified and cooled air circulation for medical professionals, bootstrapping ambu-bag as automated ventilator, telemedicine for fighting viral pandemic, large scale production of recombinant proteins for vaccine and testing.

An amount of Rs. 50 Lakh has been allotted for phase I of 8 projects towards development of prototypes. For most of these projects, the prototypes are expected to be ready within a duration of 3 – 4 weeks, while a couple of them would take about 6 months to deliver the results. The phase I is expected to start immediately after the lockdown is relaxed and the research staff are able to attend the laboratories. Meanwhile software related work would progress as usual.

“IIT Kharagpur has a proven track record towards development of indigenous health and hygiene technologies which are affordable, high-quality at par with globally accepted standards, and commercially viable. Our researchers are committed to deliver the prototypes within a constrained timeline considering the healthcare needs in the current situation,” added Prof. Tewari.

1	Development of smartphone-integrated paper-strip kit for rapid low-cost diagnostics of COVID-19 infection	Prof. Arindam Mondal and Prof. Suman Chakraborty
2	Design and Development of an indigenous Real Time PCR Machine	Prof. Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Prof. Prasanta K. Das, Prof. Suman Chakraborty (ME Dept), with inputs from Dept. of Biotechnology and Physics
3	Towards large scale Production of Recombinant Proteins for Vaccine and Testing of Novel COVID-19	Prof. Sudip K. Ghosh, Prof. Ananta K. Ghosh and Prof. Ramkrishna Sen
4	Bootstrapping the ambu-bag as automated ventilator	Prof. Aditya Bandopadhyay + Faculty and Students from ME Dept
5	Design and Development of a Bodysuit for COVID-19 Patients to Prevent the Spread of Infection	Prof. Nishant Chakravorty
6	Telemedicine for fighting viral pandemic such as COVID-19	Prof. Jayanta Mukhopadhyay
7	A Hazmat Suit with Forced Purified and Cooled Air Circulation for Medical Professionals	Prof. Manoj Kumar Mondal
8	Personal Protective Equipment for Health Care Workers	Prof. Santanu Dhara and Prof. Sangeeta Das Bhattacharya
8.a.	Portable shredder integrated with sterilizer	Prof. Santanu Dhara and Prof. Sangeeta Das Bhattacharya

Alumni Innovate COVID-19 Health Technologies

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The cases of infections and deaths related to COVID-19 in India are increasing by leaps and bounds. While it took about 2 months to reach the first 1000 cases, it increased to 2000 just within 5 days, then with every 3 days the count has been increasing by 1000, and now the frequency of that occurrence has reduced to a day. Today the COVID+ cases have crossed 8000. Though experts concur that the lockdown has checked the spread of the disease till now to a considerable extent, the need for eHealth technologies is crucial in a country with a billion+ people under home quarantine. Four alumni starts-ups from IIT Kharagpur have developed technologies to offer assistance towards surveillance, mass-scale sanitization and automatization of dissemination of official information related to novel coronavirus.

Surveillance

Innovaccer, a data-driven healthcare technology start-up co-founded by Abhinav Shashank and Kanav Hasija from 2010 batch, has has launched a self-assessment based app to screen for COVID-19 patients. The self-assessment test asks users to fill in a survey based on their symptoms. It also provides coronavirus-related updates to citizens in the region.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a serious challenge to current healthcare infrastructure. While our providers are tirelessly treating thousands of patients every day, we want to help them in this global health crisis by expanding their reach. To help the government, healthcare organizations and all frontline healthcare workers care as one, we are launching COVID-19 Management System to enable virtual care,” says Abhinav Shashank, CEO of Innovaccer.

Health authorities of Goa and Puducherry have tied up with Innovaccer to curb the spread of novel CoronaVirus pandemic with the Automated Self-evaluation Assessment to Identify At-Risk Patients for COVID-19.

In another such initiative, Intugine, co-founded by IIT Kharagpur alumni Harshit Shrivastava (2016 batch) and Ayush Agrawal (2018 batch), is using their flagship product ‘Mobile Number Location Tracking’ to monitor huge number of home-quarantined individuals and ensure they follow social distancing. The Kgpians claim that their location intelligence platform, which is based on cell triangulation technology, can work on SMS-based user content without installing any application, i.e. even on basic phones, which makes it easy to implement.

The company has recently announced that this solution can enable effective crowd monitoring of quarantined cases in a least intrusive and scalable manner, on a single dashboard with a central control tower, reducing the pressure on the ground teams to visit each location and ensure adherence.

“Our logistics platform fits seamlessly in providing a solution to the coronavirus monitoring. Upon understanding it better, we quickly tweaked our platform by conducting a pilot in a handful of districts to check the feasibility,” says Ayush Agrawal.

He confirmed getting positive response as well in detecting the breaches of home quarantined cases and reaching out to appropriate authorities who can put the platform to use for surveillance.

Mass-scale Sanitisation and Sterilization

While surveillance of the population is critical, a significant section of the population engaged in essential services are required to regularly access public spaces. Alumnus Debayan Saha collaboratively developed Airlens Minus Corona, a device which may help sanitise large areas. The innovators claim that the product might be able to address the challenge by using charged water droplets which are ionised using the viral discharge.

“Alcohols (like ethanol or IPA) are known to inactivate viruses by denaturing their protein coat. But the alcohol-based hand sanitiser is useful for individuals or for sanitising surfaces at a smaller scale (home, offices, etc.) in the fight against coronavirus. However, this is insufficient in such an emergency as it is impractical to use alcohol for sanitising cities,” said Saha.

The device is designed to look like Robo Sapien (human-like) machine that operates on the mechanism of charged water droplets which are ionised using the corona discharge. The ionised water in return oxidises the viral protein reducing it to a non-harmful molecule, opined the innovators. The innovators are hoping to reach out to organisations and government bodies for large scale application.

Bot

While media is reporting on health status, government announcements related to COVID-19, people may have queries regarding the lifestyle to follow beyond social distancing and hygiene guidelines. Apollonius Voicebot developed by alumnus Souva Majumder is addressing such queries. People can record their queries on the platform denguebot.in which are answered by an AI application. The bot has integrated information provided by the World Health Organization, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India, and My Gov platform.

COVID-19 has reaffirmed the need for technology based hygiene and healthcare, which may not fade away with the situation normalising but rather lead to a future which cause less damage from pandemic, which may not require global lockdown.

This article only shares information about technological innovations by the alumni and is neither an endorsement nor can be used as a statement of validation for the above mentioned interventions.

If you are alumni, faculty or student of IIT Kharagpur and working in the following areas, please share your story on media@iitkgp.ac.in.

Personal protective equipment,
Surveillance,
Sanitization,
Testing kit,
Development of medical equipment, bots,
Pharmacological or non-pharmacological treatment,
Data analytics and AI to model epidemic patterns and disease dynamics

Protecting the Protectors

Making Face Shields for Healthcare Workers During Lockdown

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Professor Santanu Dhara and Professor Sangeeta Das Bhattacharya, researchers at the School of Medical Science and Technology at IIT Kharagpur have made a prototype to make face shields for healthcare workers from home during the lockdown. The face shield is an essential part of the personal protective equipment (PPE) required for healthcare workers taking care of patients with suspected COVID-19.

The basic PPE for healthcare workers include respirator or face masks, eye protection including goggles and face shields, gloves and gowns. The face shield is a transparent plastic protective cover, attached to an elastic head gear. It protects the face from splashes. There is a shortage of all PPE for healthcare workers globally.

Professor Santanu Dhara and Professor Sangeeta Das Bhattacharya have designed a face shield using materials which can be procured even under the nation-wide lockdown. The items include transparency sheet, sponge, folded paper, cardboard or packaging box, elastic, or rubber band, and double-sided tape. A team from the School of Medical Science and Technology produced 14 such face shields in 2 hours and are in the process of making more, while remotely working from their homes.

“At a time when the demand for protective wears has escalated sharply, we have to improvise products using easily sourced materials and simple process to offer some sort of protection for the health workers,” remarked Prof. Santanu Dhara.

Download DIY Video

“It is essential to get personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and the faceshield is just one part. We are contributing in a small way, these have not been rigorously tested,” said Prof. Sangeeta Das Bhattacharya.

Face shields like other medical equipment require testing and certification. These are desperate times. There is a dire shortage of PPE globally and health care workers have taken to crowdsourcing. The hashtag #GetMePPE is trending across social media.

Download DIY Video

Disclaimer: This release is made in the public interest. Items described herein are only prototypes and caution is warranted during the DIY procedure. Every medical product and equipment requires testing and certification by appropriate authorities before use.