HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Dec 11: In a significant collaboration, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), a DBT-supported biotech innovation hub in Bengaluru, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Medical Education & Research Department (ME&RD), Govt of Assam. The partnership aims to drive focused innovation programs, enhance technology adoption by healthcare practitioners, and facilitate infrastructure upgrades and capacity-building.
The MoU, inked at Dispur, Guwahati, involved C-CAMP director and CEO, Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, and Siddharth Singh, IAS, commissioner and secretary, Medical Education and Research Department, representing the govt of Assam. The health minister of Assam, Keshab Mahanta, graced the occasion, emphasising the importance of the collaboration in strengthening Assam’s public health infrastructure.
Mahanta acknowledged C-CAMP’s contributions during the challenging times of the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the critical projects anticipated under this collaboration, such as addressing Retinopathy of Prematurity.
Dr Saiyed expressed gratitude to the govt of Assam for their extensive collaboration, emphasising the impact the partnership could have in connecting the innovation ecosystem with clinicians and caregivers. He emphasised that this collaboration has the potential to revolutionise technology adoption, impacting public health delivery and accessibility in Assam.
C-CAMP has been actively involved in healthcare initiatives in Assam, implementing key programs with support from national and international philanthropic organisations. These programs address critical areas such as maternal and child healthcare, hospital infrastructure facilities, and immunisation, including Covid-19 drives. Notably, the organisation has implemented 307 units of limited-resource respiratory support technology, covering 100% infrastructure requirements for newborn and paediatric critical care across all district hospitals and medical colleges in Assam.
The collaboration has also seen the deployment of 200 electronic temperature-regulated active vaccine carriers across 12 districts, strengthening last-mile cold chain facilities for routine immunization and Covid-19 vaccination. Furthermore, C-CAMP has established an oxygen-supported 54-bed augmented hospital facility at Uluoni CHC under Simonabasti BPHC, Nagaon, in collaboration with Invest India and the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India.
Siddharth Singh, IAS, commissioner of the Medical Education and Research Department, Govt of Assam, expressed optimism about the collaboration’s potential to identify solutions for scaling and strengthening various ambitious healthcare initiatives, especially in areas like Non-Communicable Disease Screening, including cancer screening with technological interventions.
Dr Saiyed highlighted that the immediate focus of the collaboration would be to intensify efforts in ongoing projects and align emerging solutions with the ground-level needs. A future project in the pipeline aims to improve early screening and detection in Retinopathy of Prematurity, a common eye disease affecting premature babies and newborns, through context-specific innovative health solutions.
