Biomedical Equipment Training Centre (BMET), Teku, under the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), in association with National Health Training Centre and Nick Simons Institute (NSI) formally launched a diploma in biomedical equipment engineering program.
BMET had been providing a 12-month biomedical equipment technician course since 2013. It will now provide a more advanced 18-month diploma course in bio-medical equipment engineering. At the inauguration programme, Minister for Health and Population Khagaraj Adhikari said diploma course in biomedical equipment engineering would enhance the expertise of human resources for managing medical equipment in hospitals throughout the country. “Lack of biomedical technicians in hospitals and medical institutions is one of the reasons behind insufficient scientific medical diagnosis of various diseases,” he said.
Due to shortage of biomedical equipment engineers in the country, the health sector has had to incur huge costs while hiring foreign experts and engineers to fix dysfunctional medical equipment.Referring to a defunct CT scan machine at Bir Hospital, Adhikari said, “The government has spent Rs 14 crore on the machine. It will be far cheaper to repair it than to make a huge investment on a new machine.”
The diploma course in biomedical equipment engineering run by BMET is affiliated to the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT). Higher secondary graduates from science stream are eligible to enroll in the course. As many as 24 students have been selected for diploma in biomedical equipment engineering for the academic session 2015-16. Of them, seven are female students. The 24 students were selected out of 70 students who had appeared in the entrance test held by CTEVT.
Gopal Khanal, vice-chairman of CTEVT said, “The students enrolled in the diploma course in biomedical technical engineering will be experts in dealing with medical equipment in hospitals after completing the course.” Biomedical engineers, equipment technicians and equipment assistants will be produced through the 18-month course and they will be outsourced to various hospitals to maintain and repair medical equipment.
Mark Zimmerman, executive officer, NSI, said the government should announce permanent positions for bio-medical engineers so as to employ medical equipment technicians in all hospitals. This will make the health sector efficient. He stated that NSI would provide technical and financial support to BMET to produce experts in management of medical equipment.
Source: The Himalayantimes
