C-DAC launches new training programme on Healthcare Informatics PARAM supercomputer to be deployed at Tanzania

Pune, July 10, 2009

Looking at the need of skilled professionals in the current healthcare industry, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under the aegis of its Advanced Computing Training School (ACTS) has launched a new course on Healthcare Informatics. This course targets individuals and professionals who wish to build their career in the Healthcare Informatics domain. The first batch of this course will commence from August 2009. The Common Entrance Test and interviews for this batch will be conducted in July 2009.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Informatics (PGDHI) is a 24 weeks full time program targeted towards grooming students and professionals in the area of Healthcare Informatics. Commenting on the launch, Shri Rajan T Joseph, Director General, C-DAC said, "the current economic scenario has made it imperative for today's IT professionals to augment their skillsets beyond technology and venture into domain specialization to stay relevant in this dynamic environment. Specialists who can bring both domain knowledge and technology to the table will have a clear advantage in the market. Despite the downturn, the healthcare industry is witnessing a demand for healthcare informatics professionals as technology is beginning to play an important role in healthcare delivery. I am confident that the PGDHI will be successful in meeting the demands of this industry".

The objective of this course is to enable the student to understand the art and applicable science of introducing, managing, and organizing information and technologies related to human healthcare, and making it useful for problem solving using latest state-of-art technologies. At the end of the course the student will be able to understand the concepts in Healthcare Informatics, learn the technologies and skills required for and issues involved in aggregation and analysis of information regarding various factors interacting in healthcare. They will be able to apply appropriate techniques to solve problems in various application areas in healthcare informatics.

As part of its capacity building initiatives, C-DAC has recently shipped the PARAM Supercomputing cluster to Tanzania. The deployment is part of a MOU signed between the Government of India and, the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania.

The project is sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India through Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India. Valued at Rupees 3.74 crores, this system shall be deployed at Dar-Es-Salaam Institute of Technology, Tanzania.

The PARAM supercomputing cluster consists of indigenously developed PARAMNet III interconnect, software stacks, CHReME HPC portal, system software and tools along with storage. Additionally, system administration and application porting & parallelization, training on HPC tools shall be provided. The system would cater to various applications in Computational Fluid Dynamics, Weather Forecasting, Bioinformatics, Finite Element Analysis, Ocean Modeling Seismic and Materials Modeling.

The project shall be for duration of three years wherein various exchange programs for scientists would be facilitated along with interactive workshops.

Addressing the media, Shri Rajan Joseph, Director General, C-DAC, said "the PARAM Supercomputing Facility shall be used extensively for Scientific and Research Applications programmes in addition to being a National Data Centre".

"The facility shall support Government of Tanzania by way of capacity building in the areas of High Performance Computing and Applications", added Shri S. P. Dixit, Director, C-DAC, Pune.

"We are in the final stage of discussions with various other countries for establishing similar facilities", said Shri. Goldi Misra, Group Coordinator & Head of the HPC Solutions Group, which is implementing this project.

Earlier, the PARAM supercomputing clusters have been deployed in Russia, Singapore and Ghana.

About Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Informatics (PGDHI):

The eligibility for the course is, BE / ME or Equivalent (AMIE, AIETE), B.Sc (Engg), BIS (Bachelor of Internet Sciences), Bachelor Of E-Commerce, MCA (After B.Sc), MCS (After B.Sc), M.Sc (Electronics, Instrumentation, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Zoology), MCM (With B.Sc), MBA (Systems), BCS, B.Sc (IT), B .Sc (Comp. Sc.), BCA, B.Pharmaceuticals, M.Pharmaceuticals and Biomedical Engineering, MBBS (including interns), MS/MD/DM/M.Ch., BDS/MDS, Bachelor/Master in Alternative Medicine, Any Certificate/Diploma courses of minimum 2 years duration recognised by Medical Council of India (MCI).

Additionally, Professionals having minimum 2 Years of relevant working experience in Hospitals, Pharmaceuticals, NGO's active in health care, Insurance companies, Healthcare organizations, Medical equipment suppliers, Clinical research organizations, and Medical Colleges having aptitude and interest in this interdisciplinary area can participate in the course.

Sound knowledge of computing fundamentals is a mandatory requirement for this course. Understanding of programming concepts will be an added advantage. Non-Computer background applicant can take admission in preDAC course conducted by C-DAC and its affiliates, to develop their computer competency.

Interested students can get the information about this course at C-DAC's website, http://acts.cdac.in.

About C-DAC:
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) is a premier Research and Development organization engaged in cutting edge technology design, development and deployment of products and solutions in the area of electronics and Information Technology. As a Scientific Society under the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India, C-DAC is also spearheading the national initiatives in IT to meet the technological needs of the country.

With a strong manpower base spread across the country at its 10 R&D centres in Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai, Noida, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram with a corporate office at Pune, the focus is on consolidating the R&D work to enable a better market reach.

C-DAC's thrust in meeting the national agenda has manifest itself in the execution of several key projects, leading to the creation of a strong brand equity for its inherent expertise and capabilities, in the global context. Presently, this expertise extends to High Performance Computing (HPC) including Scientific Modelling & Visualization; Multilingual Computing, Applied Artificial Intelligence and Speech Processing; Software including Open Source Software (Linux), Multimedia, Graphics and Database Technologies; Strategic and Power Electronics and Agrielectronics; Real Time Systems, Embedded Systems and VLSI Design; Health Informatics; Geomatics; Cyber Security; Digital / Broadband and Wireless Networks; e-Governance and ICT for Digital Divide; and Education and Training including e-Learning.

The Advanced Computing Training School (ACTS) was initiated by C-DAC in 1993 to generate quality manpower to address the growing demand of skilled human resources in the extremely fast moving sector of IT. ACTS is also the first Government Lab that has expanded its horizons globally, extending its high quality training services to countries like Mauritius, Ghana, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Dubai and Japan. In India, the courses are offered through a network of more than 50 Authorized Training Centres (ATC's), including C-DAC's own centers at 10 locations. Around a quarter million students have been successfully trained since its inception and are today engaged with leading MNCs and premier Indian IT companies.