Tata Trust's FISE develops low-cost portable MRI scanner to take health services to rural India

BENGALURU: Tata Trusts’ Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) has developed a high-tech portable Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, designed to make MRI affordable and accessible for everyone. The product was developed within a period of two years by a group of engineers at Voxelgrids, which is incubated in the foundation. 

In a statement to the press, FISE said that the 1.5 Tesla whole body MRI scanner can make MRI scans four times faster,compared to other scanners that are currently available in the market while consuming less power and being light weight hence easy to carry. 

“Innovation and entrepreneurship requires creativity, hard-work and endurance to succeed. I am pleased that the MRI project team has demonstrated this. It also requires an enabling ecosystem to ensure that the most talented innovators are encouraged to take entrepreneurial risks and create positive social, economic and environmental impact,” said Ratan N. Tata, Chairman, Tata Trusts. 

These developments can reduce the cost of an MRI scan significantly and will expand the scope of diseases that MRI can be employed to diagnose, said the trust in the statement. 

Voxelgrids has been supported by Tata Trusts’ Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) from development to introduction of the MRI scanner.