Besu plans hospital, med college

Updated on: Thursday, December 03, 2009

Kolkata: The Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) at Shibpur may soon churn out topgrade doctors apart from engineers.

The university has drawn up a Rs 100-crore plan to set up a medical science and technology centre that will include a medical school and a 400-bed state-of-the-art research hospital.

There is a 70-acre vacant plot of land next to the existing Besu campus. “We are waiting for the land to be handed over to us. The problem is we do not have adequate funds to purchase land and I have approached the state government for assistance. If they take up the proposal and acquire land, it will be a dream come true for us as well as the state,” said vice-chancellor Ajay Kumar Roy.

“It will be a research hospital, though most in Kolkata are service hospitals. We plan to open an emergency ward. All facilities will be of international standards,” Roy added.

In the first phase, the university plans to set up a medical science research centre and hospital. The MTech course for medical science and technology would have 20 students. Students with MBBS degrees will be admitted to the course on MD in medical technology. The students will receive a degree from the West Bengal Health University, with whom talks are on.

“Once we set up the hospital and start the MD course, we may think of extending it to MBBS studies later. If the university receives the much-coveted Indian Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology (IIEST) status, admissions to it can be done through the central selection process,” Roy said.

One of the unique characteristics of the multi-speciality hospital will be to arrange for a telemedicine course. The images of X-ray, ultrasound or the pathological test reports could be sent through telemedicine for the city doctors to examine. This will come as a boon for the villagers across the state.

To begin with, the hospital will have a molecular imaging centre where optical coherent stomography for skin and eye will be done. Other advanced systems of medicare, including MRI and CT Scan, will also be done. In the city, most hospitals offer 16 slize CT scans. BESU wants it to be taken to the latest 64 slize CT scan. Research has shown that every time a human body undergoes a scan, it is exposed to some amount of radiation which is harmful. In case of 64 slize CT Scans, the radiation is minimum and high resolution images are obtained.

Other departments being planned include early diagnostic clinics like radiology, pathology, teleradiology and telepathology, orthopaedics, paediatrics, cardiology, neurology and gynaecology. Medical imaging, medicine and medical engineering apart, research will be conducted on tissue engineering and bio-meterials. The proposed school and hospital will also have a hospital management system in place.

Besu plans hospital, med college

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