Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical Engineering is one of the upcoming field in India and rapidly growing along
with Globalisation of Medical Service.

Biomedical Engineering deals with medical problems. It provides solution to problem

arises in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases through Engineering Skills.

The modern medicine wholly depends on the advancement of technology driven by

engineering innovations.

Almost all the diseases are diagnosable and curable with the aid of medical equipment.
Without the help of Medical Equipments, the medicine is blind.

The curability of any diseases depends on the accurate and precise diagnosis and
treatment. The same is possible with the help of Medical Equipments such as MRI, CT,
SPECT, Positron Emission Tomography, Digital Radiography, Digital Fluoroscopy,
Mammography, Ultrasonography, Endoscopy, Lasers, and Therapy Machines such as Tele
Cobalt machines, Brachy therapy ewuipments, Medical Linear accelerators, IMRT,
Gamma Knife, X-Knife, etc.,

All these equipments have inbuilt intelligence (Articficial Inteligence) – meaning they are
capable of taking decision. These equipments are taught by the biomedical engineers to
perform their task automatically and take decision whenever there is a need such as
during emergency.

The Biomedical Engineers not only develop the equipments but they teach the
equipments to help the doctors. The modern equipments are capable of predicting the
occurrence of diseases. Also they can track the disease causing agents and kill them.
Simply one can say the biomedical engineers have done miracle in medicine.

What the Biomedical Engineers (BME) will learn?

Medical Subjects: This gives them knowledge of medical terms, Human Body
Structures and their functions as individually and as a whole system and disease and
disease causing agents and their function, characteristics etc. The main subjects are
Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pathology and Microbiology (Theory and
Laboratory Practice). These subjects are taught during their first two years of study along
with other fundamental Engineering and Science Subjects. In the higher semesters, the
Medical Subjects are taught through Engineering and Mathematical Approach which is
essential for solving medical problems. Mathematical modeling of Physiological System
and Micro Organisms are the key subject interest of Biomedical Engineers. The
mathematical systems are studied through special softwares available which makes the
subject quite easy. This makes Medical Engineers Knowledge different from Medical and
Allied Medical Professionals.
Engineering Subjects:

As Mathematics is the Queen (?Peon) of all Engineering, the Biomedical Engineers will
also study Engineering Mathematics to the required level which makes them understand
the behavior of interaction of drugs and diseases, cancer tissues and radiations, flow of
nano robots through body pathway, development of artificial organs, designing of
implants etc. The students aspiring Biomedical Engineering but have difficulties in
dealing with the subjects need not worry as the subject is full of application oriented and
softwares are readily available and the subject is easy to grasp.

Electronics are widely studied by biomedical engineers as most of the equipments

utilizes the electronic chips. Most of the engineering subjects studied by Biomedical
Engineers are Electronics oriented. The subjects are same as studied by ECE students.
These subjects include Electron Devices, Electronic Circuits, Integrated and Digital
Electronics, Microprocessors and their applications, Principle of Communication, Signals
and Systems, Digital Signal Processing, Medical Image Processing etc. (Since the
students are studying almost all the advanced subjects in Electronics & Communication
Engineering, they find good job opportunities in the Electronics as well as IT industry)

Electrical Subjects:
The BME are expected to have thorough knowledge of power supply and their
distribution as all the equipments and their internal components require specific powers
distributed from a centralized system. Hence the BME students study them to the
required level. They need to deal with micro level electricity generated by the human
system to Giga Voltage power supplies required to Drive Therapeutic Equipments. They
need to have thorough knowledge in electron accelerators including wave guides.
Though the advanced topics are tasught in the Master Degree, the Undergraduate
Students are provided basic and sufficient knowledge on these areas. The Electrica
subjects taught include Circuits Theory, Circuits and Network etc.

Instrumentation Subjects: As the priority area of work of Biomiedcal Engineering is

Biomedical Instrumentation, the students will study basics of general instrumentation and
their functions as fundamental subjects in the lower subjects and they focus more on
Biomedical Instrumentation in the higher subjects. The instrumentation subjects taught
are at par with ICE (or E&I) offered by Major Institutions. These include Sensors,
Transducer, Medical Instrumentation, Dignostic Equipments, Therpeutic Equipments,
Radiological Equipments, Human Assistive Devices, etc

Computer Subjects: The advancement of computers is utilized by medical industry

better than any other industry which is why it grows very rapid in 360 degrees.
Nowadays most of the medical equipments uses super computers or pseudo super
computers. The BME will have strong knowledge in computer networking (From Local
Area Network to Global Area Network as the medical community is fully integrated –
Exchange of knowledge by the global community on real time is possible with the global
network). Telemedicine, Tele radiology, Hospital Information Systems, Radiology
Information Systems, PACS are the widely used and rapidly growing field in India as all
the corporate hospitals are integrated. The thrust area of the nation is Medical
Networking through satellite link. (This is taken care by ISRO). Networking subjects are
not dealt as per the industry demand by any Indian Universities. Though it seems a
negative point, the BME students can take up the course from any private player or they
can learn on their own. Most of the institutions in India offers networks courses to their
students through MoU with leading organizations. This is advisable for those wish to
administer medical integration (by wire as well as wireless). The Computer related
subjects taught in BME programme includes Computer Organisation and Architecture,
fundamentals of computer Programming, C, C++, Visual Programming, Medical
Informatics, Bioinformatics, Computers in Medicine etc.

Interdisciplinary Medical Engineering Subjects:

The students study some of the research oriented and management oriented subjects also.
Normally these subjects are not much preferred by the BM Engineers as they seem to
have More Science Flavors and have much room for R&D. The subjects include
Biomechanics, Physiological Modeling, Bio Control Systems, Artificial Organs,
Biomaterials, etc.

Management Subjects: Corporate hospitals are growing very rapidly and new multi
speciality hospitals are coming up very fast to India with the involvement of foreing
companies, the corporate and MNC hospitals require administrators. Since all the
modern hospitals utilizes the latest technologies, the administrators need to have good
knowledge about the latest technology. Normally the hospital administrators are either
medical professional or MBA with Science or Arts background. It is very difficult for
them to understand and manage the modern hospitals. The BME are the right candidates
for managing modern hospitals. Hence the BME programme includes Management
subjects so that the biomedical engineers can turn into hospital managers. The subjects
taught in Biomedical Engineering include Principles of Management, Total Quality
Management, Professional Ethics, and Hospital Management.

Science / Basic Courses:

Science is the backbone of engineering. To make BME students better understand the
Engineering and Medical Subjects, Students are given strong foundation in the following
subjects: Engineering Mathematics, Graphics, Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science,
biophysics, medical physics, Environmental Science etc
Opportunities:

Industries Manufacturing / Assembling Medical Equipments:

In India there were very few companies manufacture the medical equipments in the past.
Due to globalization and increased market potential in India for the medical equipments,
many international players are setting up their factories in India which increases the pjob
potential of BM Engineers by many folds.

Since the BM engineers were not available in the past, the medical equipment
manufacturers recruited electronics, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation engineers.
Now they prefer Biomedical Engineers. Training for biomedical engineers is improved
and many institutions started offering BME at UG and PG level. In industries the BMEs
are working in the Managerial, Administrative and Production and R&D. The salary is
higher for BMEs than any other engineers. The BMEs are responsible for Design,
Development, Production, Assembly, Quality Control and Service Support and training to
clients and Distributors.

Distributors:

They are the company representatives. Most of the BM companies are in Developed
Nations. Their equipments are sold in India either directly or through their distributors.
They recruit BMEs for sales, service, installation, routine maintenance, training the
operators, Updating of Equipments and software, Customer Support, etc., The salary
packages are very high and an average salary for 5 year experienced BMEs in
Sophisticated equipments (priced more than a Crore rupees) is above one lakh per month.

Hospitals:

Service Engineers. Demonstrators. Maintenance Managers. Administrators. Managers

etc. In general the hospital BMEs are expected to work in all the areas where engineering
and technology is in practice. They are well recognized by medical community. They
can easily get their identity and can have good interaction with the top management of
the hospital. Since hospitals are westernized and more global players are involved, the
service of BMEs are inevitable. All the hospitals are required to recruit BMEs.

Medical Colleges:

As per MCI norms, all the medical colleges are required to set up a dedicated BME
department which should function round the clock. The BME should ensure the better
performance of medical equipments as well as they need to teach the Medical Students
about the functioning of BM Equipments. MCI will not give recognition for medical
colleges fail to have BME department. This creates lot of job opportunity in both
Government and Private Medical Colleges. Jobs in Medical College and Hospitals are
ideal for female BMEs.
Higher Education:

Biomedical Engineers are eligible for following higher education programs.

M.E., / M.Tech., / M.S. and Research Programs

Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical Instrumentation, Medical Electronics,

Instrumentation Engineering, Process control engineering, Information Technology,
Computer science Engineering, Pharmaceutical engineering, Nano technology, Nano
biomedicine, Sensor system Technology, Material Science, Rehabilitation Engineering,
Instrumentation and Control Engineering, Medical Informatics, Bioinformatics, Signal
Processing, Applied Electronics, Embedded System.