Biomedical engineering: current status and issues for developments in India

Biomedical engineering is an important field of engineering science that plays pivotal role in the modern health care systems. Rapid developments in medical technology has boosted the medicare system to a large extent. These developments greatly improved the quality, availability and efficiency of the health care delivery system. Technological advancement in the developed countries contributed their advancement in developing countries to certain extend. In countries like Indian these technological advancements can be beneficial only in the shorter period. It is rather impossible to visualize these benefits in the long term unless otherwise plan are devised to sustain these developments. Therefore, it is high time to start more biomedical engineering programs in the country. In this regard various technical and medical bodies must unit and cooperate in the proper molding of programs. Different biomedical societies and related organizations can play a greater role in the curriculum development. These organizations must contribute their efforts in designing course, projects, set short and long term goals. Also create an environment to establish active interactions with various institutions of interest. Initially plans should be drawn to modify the existing curricula by introducing new and need based programs. Also provide expertise to the institutes starting new biomedical engineering under graduate, post graduate and research programs. This paper outlines some of these issues related to the development and modernization of biomedical engineering programs in India and other developing countries.