Biomedical Scope

Important Questions about Scope Of BME :

A biomedical engineer is a must in a hospital. No hospital can perform without having a biomedical department, particularly hospitals which are into tertiary and secondary care. We have to look at a biomedical engineer as a resource which is on line with the management resource of an organisation and not as an engineer. Lot of hospitals use biomedical engineer as if he is just a component of engineering services of a hospital. He is a very intelligent resource which looks after the most expensive part of the hospital and so we need to use the resource adequately. He not only takes care of your equipment but forms an integral part of the hospital’s management team. He also needs to constantly keep abreast of the new technologies that are happening. An institution head should look at a biomedical engineer as a guide.

Comment on the changing role of a biomedical engineer in the changing health care scenario.

With health care becoming corporatised the role of biomedical engineer in a corporate hospital has changed dramatically — from just being another resource to becoming driver of medical services within the hospital. These are the people who ultimately help save costs. We may have the best of equipment in the world but it may not be economical to run the equipment. Biomedical engineers should be seen as a part of hospital’s core management team.

Do hospitals understand the need to employ a biomedical engineer?

Unfortunately many hospitals do not. The newer generation hospitals do but many do not. However, this is bound to change. Because, as hospitals become more responsible for upgradation of equipment they will understand the need for biomedical engineer. Hospitals look at every resource as cost and this is the way health care is structured in our country. People do not understand that any medical technology company cannot support you as much as your internal support.

What is the scope for biomedical engineers?

The basic problem for the hospitals is that the number of biomedical engineers is limited. There are not enough courses too. We need more biomedical engineers. Students did not take up this responsibility because they felt that job opportunities are limited. As the health care sector grows and becomes more dynamic, the need for this group is going to be high. Therefore we should start looking at more number of courses to churn our more number of engineers to cater to the need.

What are the challenges ahead of a biomedical engineer?

The biggest challenge is that medical technology is changing so fast that it is very important to keep abreast of this changing technology. When institutions are looking at cost-effective solutions, they need to get more and more sensitised to the fact that it is not just important to have greatest of the technology but to see that what is the end service they give to patients