In a landmark collaboration, the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar and Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Friday to promote joint research in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for healthcare advancement.
The agreement aims to enhance diagnostics, treatment planning, and clinical decision-making by combining medical expertise with engineering innovation. It outlines structured, ethical collaboration between the institutions to drive data-driven healthcare solutions.
The MoU was signed by Director SKIMS Prof. (Dr.) M. Ashraf Ganie, Director NIT Srinagar Prof. Binod Kumar Kanaujia, and other senior officials from both institutions.
Prof. Kanaujia described the MoU as a milestone that merges health and technology, providing students opportunities to tackle real-world medical challenges using AI tools. Prof. Ganie emphasized the potential of data-driven, personalized healthcare, especially for region-specific diseases.
Dr. Gausia Qazi, HoD ECE at NIT Srinagar, called the agreement a vital step in applying engineering to improve patient care through ML and AI.
During the event, Kamran Ali Hussain, an outgoing NIT student, presented his project on an AI-powered platform for early PCOS detection among Kashmiri women. The innovation was praised for its practical impact, with Prof. Ganie pledging SKIMS’s support for such initiatives.
As per the agreement, SKIMS will provide anonymized, ethically approved clinical data to NIT for research. NIT will develop ML models to identify medical patterns, enabling early diagnoses and personalized treatments.
The institutions also plan to co-publish research findings and develop scalable AI applications across medical fields, aiming to foster continuous healthcare innovation for societal benefit.