AP IIT’s medical plans on!

AP IIT’s medical plans on!

The recent deci sion of the IIT-Council, the apex decision-making body of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology, to allow IITs to start medical courses has revived the hopes of IIT-Hyderabad to launch a medical school on its campus at Medak.

It has become essential for IIT-Hyderabad to set up a medical school following its decision to focus on biology by offering courses like bio-informatics, biotechnology etc. This requires students to visit medical schools frequently and IIT-H feels that having its own medical school will benefit both students and the faculty.

IIT-H had in July 2009 announced its plan to set up a medical school after the Union minister for HRD, Mr Kapil Sibal, asked the IITs to expand their horizon beyond engineering.

However, the proposal was shelved for over a year after differences cropped up between the Union HRD and health ministries. But the recent decision of the IIT-Council has enabled IIT-H to go ahead with its plans.

Prof U.B. Desai, director, IIT-H, earlier announced that the IIT-H is planning to offer MD degrees in the next three years initially and launch MBBS courses later.

IIT Kharagpur proposes to start a medical institution in collaboration with Indian Railways, which will offer courses for MBBS, MD, MS and PhD degrees.

Source: Deccan Chronicle