Medical engineering – new course of study for the future
A society with an increasing number of older people and consequently more people who are ill and/or disabled makes new demands on health and medical care. This means that medical engineering one of the fastest growing business areas in Sweden, and companies are crying out for well-educated employees. KTH has started up the country’s only Master of Science in Medical Engineering.
There is considerable demand for employees with medical engineering expertise. If this business area continues to grow at the speed it has been growing, it will provide more than 3 200 new jobs in the next five year period. This is stated in the report entitled “Action Medtech – Key measures for growing medical device industry in Sweden” that KTH, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital has commissioned in cooperation with the management consultancy company McKinsey.
KTH has responded to this expressed need from an expansive future business area by starting up the Master of Science in Medical Engineering course which will be launched in the autumn term of 2008.
“Business/industry and the County Council need well-educated employees within this field. Sweden is proud of its medical engineering history and, with the help of this new course, we will be able to carry on the tradition. There are many examples of Swedish inventions such as the pacemaker, respirator and ultrasound scans,” says Lars-Åke Brodin, Vice-Dean at KTH’s School of Technology and Health.
Medical engineering is one of Sweden’s most rapidly growing businesses. During the last seven-year period it has grown by 10% per year and the industry turnover is more than BSEK 60 annually. Sweden is a prominent export country within this business segment. Companies such as Elekta, Gambro and Getinge, as well as international companies like General Electric, are in great need of this type of staff. Hospitals also need qualified employees to manage and implement all the technology in the hospital environment.
Medical engineering currently employs approximately 10 000 people with an additional 5 000 working in direct connection to the industry. Since 1999, total workforce in this field has increased by 4% annually which is a considerably higher rate than most business areas.
“Technical developments within the health and medical care area are vital to the security of our future welfare. The medical engineering industry invests today’s profits I tomorrow’s medical care which in the end creates employment opportunities and improves people’s lives,” states Tomas Pussepp, CEO of Elekta.
Håkan Soold