Magnet system developed, will help make desi MRI machines

Prayagraj: In a major breakthrough, scientists at New Delhi’s Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), led by its director and Allahabad University’s adjunct professor, Prof Avinash Chandra Pandey, have successfully developed India’s first superconducting magnet system used in MRI machines for a whole-body clinical scanner.

At present India depends on 100% import for MRI machines which cost exorbitantly. The IUAC has developed a 1. 5 Tesla (T) superconducting MRI magnet system, which is like the heart of the MRI machine. This will not only make India produce cheaper indigenous MRI machines, but also put it in the league of select countries which produce these machines. At present, China is the biggest exporter of MRI machines to India.

The MRI machine is used to take images of any body part for detection of diseases by providing precise contrast resolution in any imaging direction.

“This is nothing less than India making its own cryogenic engine, or state-of-the-art weaponry. Having our own indigenous MRI machine would not only cut the cost of the equipment but will also provide access to this vital diagnostic technique to those who today cannot afford the same because of its high cost,” said renowned radiologist Padma Shri Dr Harsh Mahajan.