IIT Kharagpur has launched a faculty of integrated health science and technology to oversee its new MD (doctor of medicine) programme and run a BTech course in biomedical engineering.
The BTech in biomedical engineering was introduced from the 2026-27 academic year, with admissions through the all-India JEE (Advanced).
For the MD course, candidates will be screened through NEET, IIT Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty said on Friday.
He said the convergence of medicine and technology is central to modern healthcare and offers employment potential.
“Hospitals are increasingly becoming reliant on machines. Biomedical engineers are required to operate and maintain those machines. Each hospital requires
biomedical engineers. Such engineers are also required for the medical devices
industry. So there is huge demand,” Chakraborty said at a pre-convocation press
conference.
The institute will hold its 72nd annual convocation on Saturday. It will confer 3,936 degrees across undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and professional programmes.
He said the new faculty integrates the institute’s hospital, medical education, medical technology courses and research ecosystem under one structure. The administrative framework was approved at a board meeting held two days ago.
On Thursday, IIT Kharagpur appointed a dean for medical science.
“The faculty of integrated health science and technology has been created so that there is easier sharing of resources,” Chakraborty said.
MD students will train at the Dr BC Roy Institute of Medical Sciences on campus, named after Bengal’s first chief minister, who donated land for India’s first IIT in Kharagpur. They will also receive hands-on training at a larger hospital being developed at Balarampur, outside the campus, named after Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee.
“We are expanding the hospital to a 220-bed facility, the minimum required for medical education,” Chakraborty said. It will eventually be scaled up to 400 beds. For decades, lack of medical infrastructure at IIT Kharagpur and nearby areas has been a concern for campus residents.
“The institute plans to introduce MRI, USG, CT scan and other diagnostics at the hospital, basic facilities for which many residents have to travel to Calcutta. These will also help those who reside outside the campus,” he said.
