Arab Health, the largest exhibition for healthcare and trade professionals in the MENA region is partnered with InnoHEALTH Magazine (India’s First Magazine of Healthcare Innovations) as a ‘Media Partner’. The exhibition will address the growing prevalence of asthma in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as part of the 4th annual Emergency Medicine Conference, which takes place on the opening day of the trade show on 27 January 2020.

According to research from the Global Asthma Network, some 339 million people, or one in 20 globally, are affected by the condition. Often referred to as a Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD), it causes airways to restrict and often results in coughing, wheezing, tightening of the chest, shortness of breath and generally difficulty breathing. In the UAE, approximately 14% of the population is impacted, equating to 1.3 million residents.

Speaking ahead of the Emergency Medicine conference, Dr. Saleh Fares, Consultant of Emergency Medicine, EMS and Disaster Medicine, Founder and President, Emirates Society of Emergency Medicine (ESEM), Dubai, and moderator of the respirology session, said: “CRDs are increasing in prevalence in the Middle East and, unfortunately, are often left undiagnosed and untreated. This is having huge social and economic consequences and, in some instances, is resulting in death. With the correct diagnosis and treatment, the number of deaths can be dramatically reduced, and the impact of the condition lessoned.”

“We need to ensure there is better access to treatment and educate both frontline medical staff, as well as the patient, about the symptoms and the best course of action to take to remedy the condition,” he added.

The UAE’s above-average number of asthma cases is often attributed to the UAE’s dusty conditions due to the desert environment as well as seasonal changes and the resulting increase and decrease in temperature and humidity. A reliance on air conditioning in the home and office, if not properly cleaned, can also become the ideal breeding ground for mould and dust which can act as a trigger for some sufferers.

According to Dr Danish Sami, Consultant, Emergency Medicine, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC), Abu Dhabi, who will outline the factors contributing to the region’s asthma problems as part of his session titled Asthma Exacerbation in 2020: “The issue we face is that only 30% of asthma sufferers are treated in a controlled environment. Similarly, only 30% are either partially controlled, and 40% have no diagnosis and therefore no treatment. There is still a need for education, particularly with children, who we need to encourage to exercise more to help negate the impact of asthma, however steps taken within the education system and health authorities are helping to address these issues.”

According to the latest research from UN Comtrade 2019, the UAE has seen a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) increase of 14.92% from US$19.6 million in 2015 to US$34.1 million in 2018 in the product categories of therapeutic respiration apparatus, ozone, oxygen and aerosol therapy apparatus; and artificial respiration or other therapeutic respiration apparatus.

The bulk of therapeutic respiration apparatus imports by the UAE come from the United States, China, Japan and Germany – all countries that will be present at Arab Health 2020 and showcasing their latest technology in this field.

Ross Williams, Exhibition Director of Arab Health, said: “As part of our commitment to provide access and information about the most up-to-date solutions and medical devices to the region, we will host over 250 companies who will be showcasing the latest technologies related to respiratory and life support. Products and services will include ventilation solutions, oxygen and nebuliser masks as well as ventilation units and ICU ventilation from companies including Drager, Hamilton and Polybond India.”

In addition to the Emergency Medicine Conference, a total of 13 Continuing Medical Education (CME) conferences and one educational forum will take place during the four-day Arab Health Congress. More than 5,000 delegates are expected to attend popular returning tracks including Obs & Gyne, Diabetes and Total Radiology, as well as eight new conferences that include; Midwifery, Patient Experience, Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine, and a Healthcare Investment Forum, amongst others.

Organised by Informa Markets, an anticipated 4,250+ exhibitors from more than 64 countries and 55,000 visitors are expected to attend the 2020 edition of the show which takes place from 27 – 30 January 2020 at the Dubai World Trade Centre and Conrad Dubai Hotel.

Register for free
Also Read:
InnoHEALTH 2019 conference report
InnoHEALTH 2018 conference report
InnoHEALTH 2017 conference report

The inaugural session was addressed by Dr. V K Singh, Managing Director, InnovatioCuris Pvt. Ltd., who set the tone for the conference by raising the genuine questions as how one can create healthcare delivery at optimum costs. He emphasized on working with grassroot innovators. In his speech, he also warned the young innovators to trust the technology only up to a limit.

Our guest of honor, Lt General (Dr.) Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator,Prime Minister’s Office, Government of India, in his special address quoted Mark Twain’s quote, “Gutenberg’s invention created heaven, and along with it a new hell”. He related this saying by how it applies equally to technology. As the technology has given us new horizons and ways to live, it has alongside created problems too.

Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF India Representative in her introductory address, gave a brief overview on the how unmet needs, especially in health sector become the mother of innovations and how technology can be a solution to address those innovations. She insisted on the use of scalable technology as to how it can be made accessible to millions of people. Referring to this, she talked about the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. The world has resolved to leave no one behind in fighting extreme poverty and preventable child deaths.

Mr. Karnal Singh, Ex-Enforcement Director, India raised during his speech Narayana Murthy’s concern that there have been no recent innovations from India. “Are we so bad?” He said we would have to think differently for finding solutions. The education which we receive in our country is more competitive than collaborative.There are many unmet needs in health sector, for example, for majority of injections, cold chain is not maintained. It’s been a long time that we could have insulin tablets rather having the existing insulin injections. India, prominently being an agricultural land faces a major unmet need of water requirement, which is only 50% against the 80% requirement. He acknowledged that 2010-2020 has been the decade of innovations for India. To everybody’s pride, the ranking of India in the global innovation index has improved by five places to 52nd in 2019 from 57th position last year.

Sachin Gaur, Director Operations, InnovatioCuris, took the opportunity to drive everybody’s attention towards the trust deficit which persists in medical community and equity of stakeholders. He insisted on developing a common language within the medical fraternity to which Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a probable answer.

The forum manifested remarkable heterogeneity with its speakers from various realms across the globe. The second session on “Innovations for hospitals and insurance companies” was very interestingly structured as a free-style discussion.

Mr. Mohan Krishnan introduced the discussion with a brief presentation on the global trends in healthcare and their affordability. He particularly emphasized on access to healthcare resources and quantity shortage in India. He highlighted how lifestyle associated diseases have taken over the communicable diseases. He discussed the key trends in supply dynamics, their relationship to healthcare sector, and the challenges and opportunities for their future implementation. The functional and central aspect of this session was majorly about healthcare which is accessible and affordable to the masses. Other key points that emerged during the session are outlined as:

• switching of communicable to non-communicable lifestyle associated diseases
• lack of medical care in rural areas
• Ayushman Bharat Yojana or Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana or National Health Protection Scheme: one of the largest and promising healthcare initiatives which aims to address healthcare holistically
• patient feedback must be a pre-requisite while thinking of the innovations which can fulfill the unmet needs
• biggest challenge in healthcare is information symmetry
• one of the most remarkable point that came up was that the healthcare provider should be “paid to prevent”, and not paid to cure
• 5 P’s should be prioritized: People, Plant (equipment in hospitals), Processes, Premises, Patient care

This enlightening session focused on four most important factors, viz., better health outcome, better patient experience, better staff experience and better costs.

The tone of the next session on “Innovations in medical devices and diagnostics” was set by majority of doctors. The diagnostics could be done by the help of paramedics or people other than doctors and then they could be replaced by automated systems or AI. There are schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, which give accessibility to each one. The innovations could be patient centric, healthcare centric or in terms of sustainability. The focus was on trends impacting medical devices and diagnostics, for example, lab-on-chip, wearable health monitoring devices, AI, 3D printing, etc.

The tone of the next session on “Innovations in medical devices and diagnostics” was set by the majority of doctors. The diagnostics could be done by the help of paramedics or people other than doctors and then they could be replaced by automated systems or AI. There are schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, which give accessibility to each one. The innovations could be patient-centric, healthcare centric or in terms of sustainability. The focus was on trends impacting medical devices and diagnostics, for example.

The brainstorming session provided meaningful insights into the remedies which innovations can bring to the unmet needs in healthcare. Prime Minister’s health and wellness program were much talked about. Challenges in the not-much-explored area of management of blood banks were discussed. The lack of a centralized system of blood banking is a major concern.

The role of medical robotics, which is a type of disruptive technology, is very fascinating. The thought of switching from open surgery to key-hole-surgery to no-hole surgery is in fact very intruding. Another major concern across the globe is diabetes and how the diabetologists across the nation are ignorant in not examining the feet of their diabetic patients as 30% of the diabetics suffer from severe foot diseases. There are ample cases of diabetic amputation, which must raise an alarm within the diabetologists.e lab-on-chip, wearable health monitoring devices, AI, 3D printing, etc.

The fourth session was a very inspirational one wherein the dais had seven women innovators, each one unique in their own fields. As Prime Minister Modi once said, “The progress of humanity is incomplete without the empowerment of women.
”InnovateHER gave a common platform to few wonderful women where they shared their stories of inspiration, falls, and experience. This session was indeed a beautiful stretch of one hour where these women from varied backgrounds and aspirations showcased their expertise and their words gave hope, path and motivation to everybody present in the auditorium. They were an epitome of women empowerment and proved it greatly “Komal Hai Kamzor Nahi Tu, Shakti Ka Naam Hi Naari Hai, Jag Ko Jeevan Dene Wali, Maut Bhi Tujhse Haari Hai”.

Ms. Shriya Sethi, presented detailed statistical data on women entrepreneurs, about emerging trends in healthcare innovations, the existing lacunae and the current scenario of general well-being of people.

Ms. Priya Prakash, Founder & CEO, HealthSetGo, was one of the youngest innovators, who herself realized at a very tender age, the importance of good health. This drove her to initiate her existing foundation, which focuses on the wellness of children. “If the kids are healthy in the first place, the coming young generation would be disease-free”, was her take on the evolution of her organization.

Another eminent panelist Ms. Preeti Rao, Founder & CEO, Weljii, inspired everybody around to focus on being healthy. Instead of talking about the illness, she emphasized more on how people must take care of their wellness which includes both physical and mental health.

Ms. Veena Sehgal, a pharmacist and entrepreneur mentioned the gap in the availability of medicines which the doctor prescribes. They are most of the times available on area-specific basis which makes it difficult and time consuming for the patients. There should be an emphasis on generic medicines, rather than brands.

Amidst such tech gathering which had brought together so many thought leaders and experts alike; we had between us few young innovators. These innovators with their priceless ideas and vision delivered their pitches to make their candidature remarkable in its unique way.

The candidates included Priya Prakash (HealthSetGo), Yogesh M (Hybrid effluent water system technology), Saiprasad Poyarekar (spray-on skin tissue), Ashish Sharma (Drip monitoring system) and Vijay Kumar Kumawat (Microporous implants). With their unique set of products/services, the candidates made it difficult for the jury to decide on the winners. Saiprasad with his technological advancement of spray-on skin tissues to get rid of minor-to-severe burns grabbed him the award for best innovator pitch. He was followed by Vijay Kumar, as 1st runner-up and Priya Prakash as 2nd runner-up.

The next session was a special one dedicated to diabetes, one of the most worrisome chronic diseases across the globe. The speakers talked about how to monitor, control and manage the disease.

Dr. Arjun Dang, CEO, Dr. Dangs Lab, who was chairing the session referred India as the “diabetic capital of the world”, referring to the alarming scenario of the affected Indians wherein around 16 million Indians are affected with Type 2 diabetes, and this number is expected to rise to more than 100 million in the next ten years. He also insisted not to commoditize healthcare, rather consider it as a service which requires a lot of compassion and empathy.

One very relevant question that came up was that “Why Indians are most prone to diabetes?”. Probably it is because of the harmful oils and highly processed foods available in the Indian markets. Stress is a huge component in diabetes management. Exercise and breath-management (pranayama, etc.) have a major impact on diabetes management. One of the major contributors of diabetes is non-nutritional food. Sleep which is often understated has a direct impact on blood sugar level which increases due to lack of proper sleep. Diabetic patients can improve only to fall back again into the same pit and destroy their health, hence it is of utmost importance to rescue them.

Among the highlights of the next session, “India Global Collaboration in Health Sector: Start-up Opportunities and Challenges” were the long-term Australia-India collaboration goals in the field of Science and Technology. To seek the answer to the question, “What can India offer to countries in the panel and what do the countries have to offer for India?”, let’s read next.

Dr. Jukka Holappa, Commercial Counselor, Country Manager India at Business Finland, shared the current status of healthcare in Finland. He spoke about the excellent condition of R&D in Finland, among which ten large companies are Indian.

Dr. Shiban Ganju, shared that he has come to India because India is “where all the action is happening right now”. He talked about traditional medicines in India, differential pricing of products across various countries. The innovators must focus on “frugal innovation”, for providing the best of healthcare.

Ms. Sharda Balaji, a lawyer by profession highlighted the importance of mobile penetration which is the largest in the world in India. There have been tectonic shifts happening in technology. She discussed how India is all about affordability and value consciousness. The concept of “jugaad” or making things doable work well in India. This is where a lawyer is needed to license the product(s). The major challenge she mentioned in India is lack of connectivity with deep science and research across geographical locations within the country due to its enormous size.

Much was talked on the existence and emergence of the digital health in the intriguing session on “Digital Health: Giving Birth to New Delivery Models through Mobile, IoT, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence”.

Mr. Jacky Ovadia, General Manager, IDEA (International Innovation & Business Development expert), Israel shared with the audience his viewpoint on advancement in telemedicine. There must be portable medicine devices which can effectively check pulse and nerves very easily. He mentioned about remote monitoring for ultrasound, pregnancy, pulse checking, and clinically approved digital urinalysis. He said that a concept which uses GPS to monitor patients’ activities and habits can have varied impact on people’s lives.

Way forward

With such inspirational, informative and interactive sessions, the two-day conference came to an end, raising too many new questions and challenges that may impact healthcare, especially in India. It also gave answers to many existing issues through the numerous innovations that were presented. The generic thought which probably each one had was on the affordability and accessibility of good healthcare. If the innovations are not scalable, easily accessible and cost-effective to the masses, they cannot persist for long.

Of utmost importance were the views on how AI can save lives, and the importance of end-to-end affordable healthcare. IoT can connect to anyone, anytime, anywhere in rural and urban areas where reach is low, and how AI helps in diagnosis and innovation. Early intervention can resolve health problems and there is a huge scope in the use of the apps which can enable timely and real time intervention. With highly potential schemes like Ayushman Bharat, we can create value chain in affordable and accessible healthcare for everyone.

The healthcare sector sees immense opportunities with the innovations happening across the globe. Innovation pitches from global and Indian companies that were conducted wherein organizations from various sectors came forward to present their portfolio of services and products.

Innovators and researchers are working on various aspects wherein they can target various chronic as well as lifestyle associated diseases. For example, the Nano 4 TB kit helps detect TB easily. There are various state-of-art laboratories across the nation which are deployed and use high-end technology, for example next generation sequencing is used to perform operations to detect aneuploidy or any kind of anomaly which is responsible for spontaneous miscarriages and mental retardation in live born babies. In the light of technology, innovation and healthcare, we must look at technology with a business view; how technologies work in society, sustainability of the model with traditional delivery, and about new models in healthcare.

Read past InnoHEALTH conference press release:
InnoHEALTH 2017
InnoHEALTH 2018
Also Read: Press Release: The International Medical Travel Show Dubai 2020

About the author

Dr. Jasmeet Chhabra is a Doctorate in Immunology and whenever she gets free time from the full-time job she loves to read and write about imperative issues in healthcare.

Important deadlines and dates for the Awards are:

• Online Nominations & Submission of Entries accepted till November 10th, 2019 (Sunday)
• Finalists Announcement: November 30th, 2019 (Saturday)
• Winners Announcement & Awards Distribution: December 11th, 2019 (Wednesday)

Categories for the PEXA2019 Awards are as follows:

1. Patient Experience Team of the Year
2. Patient Experience Professional of the Year
3. Patient Experience Delivery Professional of the Year
4. Patient Experience Leader of the Year | Individual
5. Patient Experience Leader of the Year | Organisation
6. Best PX Communication Programme
7. Health Insurance Products and Service Innovation
8. Healthcare Start Up | Patient Experience Delivery Innovation
9. Patient Experience Technology Innovation
10. Best Patient Experience in the Care of Underprivileged Patients
11. Best Organisation for Staff / Employee Engagement for PX
12. Innovation for Measuring Patient Experience

The Patient Experience Conclave & Awards is being curated by the Customer Relationship Academyof Asia (CRMAA) – a non-profit body of CRM professionals empowering enterprises with freshlearnings and best practices in creating, customising and maintaining Customer Relationships; inpartnership with Terragni Consulting and the Indian Chamber of Commerce.
For registration and detailed information about the Awards or to Submit Your Entry for the Awards go here
For more information and to get a copy of Conclave Brochure or Awards Brochure – please email info@crmasia.org

International Health Technology Conference – CAHOTECH 2019

The Patient Experience Conclave & Awards is a day-long first of its kind event on December 11th, 2019 (Wednesday) at Shangri-La Hotel, Connaught Place, New Delhi and will bring together senior healthcare professionals, thought leaders and PatientExperience practitioners from both national and international organizations – all of whom are tasked with overseeing their organization’s Patient Experience Strategy.

Our Conclave Agenda will include keynotes, panel discussions and more on the following topics:

• Identifying and Understanding your Customer
• Journey from Patient Satisfaction to Patient Experience
• The ROI of Patient Experience
• Great Experiences need Great people
• Nursing Excellence for a great Patient Experience

Other highlights of the event include the identification and setting of Patient Experience Standards, which we will be recognising and rewarding at our Patient Experience Awards Ceremony. The Conclave will also see the release of our Knowledge Report on the “State of Patient Experience in India.”

The Patient Experience Conclave & Awards is being curated by the Customer Relationship Academy of Asia (CRMAA) – a non-profit body of CRM professionals – empowering enterprises with fresh learnings & best practices in creating, customizing and maintaining Customer Relationships. This initiative is in partnership with Terragni Consulting and the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

For registration and detailed information about the Awards or to Submit Your Entry for the Awards, go here
For more information and to get a copy of Conclave Brochure or Awards Brochure – please email info@crmasia.org

CHENNAI / September 12, 2019: CAHOTECH 2019, the fourth international healthcare technology conference of Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organizations (CAHO), will beheld at IIT Madras Research Park in Chennai from September 27-28, 2019. The two-day annual gathering is considered as the biggest healthcare technology event in India. (The event will be conducted for two days, However, the conference is held on 28th September 2019).

More than 700 healthcare professionals and delegates from across the country will be attending CAHOTECH 2019 this year to keep themselves updated with the latest technology and products related to the healthcare sector. These include med-tech vendors, process innovators, and solution providers; start-ups looking for funding and beta-testing space; hospital decision-makers; and investors scouting for innovative and disruptive technologies. Start-ups in healthcare looking for funding or beta testing can register for free for the pitchfest.

Mr. Sameer Mehta, Organizing Chairman, CAHOTECH 2019, said “The event this year will be on even a grander scale than before. An important aspect will be the sharing of experiences and key learnings regarding technological innovations already functional at some of our member hospitals. There will also be assessment of newer technologies and showcasing of promising start-ups. CAHOTECH 2019 will also facilitate business discussions through a separate arm of vendors showcasing their latest technology and products. This international healthcare technology conference organized by CAHO connects healthcare with technology. It is the definitive event for health and technology innovation, investment and best practices. It showcases the latest technology-based solutions to enable maximum efficiency at hospitals.”

More than 25 distinguished speakers will address the audience at CAHOTECH 2019 at about 25sessions and talks spread across two days. These include names like Som Mittal (FormerPresident & Chairman, NASSCOM), Dr. Gagandeep Kang (Christian Medical College),Lakshmi Narayanan (Cognizant Technology Solutions), Josh Foulger (Foxconn InternationalHolding), Arun Jain (Founder – Polaris), Dr. Bhaskar Ramamurthi (Director – IIT Madras); Dr.Yoon Kyoung Cho (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology), Dr. HooshmandPalany (ASEAN – Business Advisory Council), Ravindran B (IIT Madras), and Anil Relia(Quality Council of India). The event also has 28 technical partners and 3 knowledge partners.

Mr. J Adel, Organizing Secretary, CAHOTECH 2019 while addressing the conference said “Technology plays a critical role in increasing operational efficiency and profitability ofhealthcare providers. It is a driving force behind quality healthcare, helping increase providercapabilities and enabling them to offer better patient care. The focus of CAHOTECH 2019 is ontechnological innovations in the areas of process efficiency and optimum utilisation, enhancingclinical and patient care and empowering patients. This year, we are also bringing health-techstart-ups and investors on the same platform. The aim is to capture good technology at earlystages and empower the innovators to scale up and grow.”

Mrs. Bharathi Reddy, Tamil Nadu representative of CAHO, added that “CAHOTECH is theonly platform of its kind that brings together healthcare organizations and technology companiesunder one roof to share and utilize their experience and adopt more efficient practices byhealthcare organizations. The objective is to help introduce newer and better technologysolutions to hospitals.”

A major highlight of the event will be the presence of equity investors and venture capitalistswho will be assessing participating start-ups for funding opportunities in healthcare technologyspace. Start-ups will get to explore opportunities for incubation and engaging with hospitals forthe beta testing of new products. A pitch-fest for startups will be held, with a total purse of Rs 20 lakh available for funding.

For registration, visit: www.cahotech.com

Patient Experience Excellence Awards 2019

The Inaugural ceremony was graced by Mr. Prabal Chakraborty, Vice President & Managing Director, Boston Scientific India. The ceremony was also graced by Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar, Pro-Chancellor, SIU and Dr. Rajani Gupte, Vice Chancellor, SIU. Mr. Prabal Chakraborty mentioned that the complexity of healthcare is arising due to multiple stakeholders, multiple information flows, unstable geopolitical environment, and multiple decision-making processes. Dr. Rajiv Yeravdekar, Dean, Faculty of Health & Biological Sciences, SIU justified the concept of SYMHEALTH by a small story of a young boy who tried to search for god and succeeded. Dr. Rajani Gupte talked about the inter-departmental connections and platform where students get to inculcate skills like teamwork and hard work. Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar explained the need to have communication skills along with other pre-requisite skills in health sciences. Dr. S. B. Mujumdar, Founder and President, Symbiosis; Chancellor, Symbiosis International (Deemed University) emphasized on the need of the hour to have a healthy mind and a healthy body.

Also Read:
Sweden-India Collaboration in Health Sector
Indo-Danish Relationship in Healthcare

The first session was on Public Health Agenda for India by Dr. Sanjay Zodpey, Vice President, Public Health Foundation of India.

He started his session by stating the 21st-century challenges in healthcare in India and the need to have a healthy population. He did a comparative study of healthcare status in 1947 India and the status at present. He emphasized the poverty status, gender inequality, the situation of sanitation and education in India as compared to the data available globally. He also discussed health landscape indices regarding immunization coverage, sustainable health goals index, related to health and wellbeing, life expectancy, infant mortality rate, etc. He stressed upon the need for government to increase the amount of GDP expenditure in the healthcare sector to have a positive impact on indices like life expectancy and national per capita income. He also talked about the challenges associated with the low expenditure on healthcare, the shortage of clinical and non-clinical staff. He also touched upon the topic of Universal Health Coverage and the point to be focused upon: affordability of healthcare, quality health service and financial protection to the public. He ended the session with the note “Creating ‘Swasth Bharat’ along with ‘Swachh Bharat”.

Mr. Bhaskar Nerurkar, Head, Health Bajaj Allianz ltd started the session with a little humor and introduced his co-panelists. Ms. Gayatri Iyer, Regional Manager, NIC then proceeded with her speech introducing the concept behind RSBY (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna), Ayushman Bharat and NHPS (National Health Protection Scheme). She also talked about the initial Planning commission and its transformation into NITI Aayog. She concluded her speech by perks and eligibility of the scheme. The session was then proceeded by Mr. Bhaskar where he started by appreciating Symbiosis International University for their educational services by saying that ‘Pune is the home of education and Symbiosis is the kitchen’. He talked about the aspects and the need to have Ayushman Bharat and Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY) from the insurance sector’s perspective.

The session then moved forward to Mr. Arunesh Punetha, Regional Director, Narayana Health who discussed about the anticipated challenges for public and private healthcare providers like the low rate of packages being made available to the clinical staff and the shortage of health workforce. He gave his insights on the Michael Porter’s model of ‘Agenda for Value Transformation’ with patient centricity at the core. He ended the session with a talk about PMJAY and its influence on public health.

Dr. Sanjay Gupte, Medico-Legal Expert began the session by talking about the types of law in healthcare statutory and case laws. He projected the issues by focusing on the interpretation of law changes as per circumstances, unlicensed practitioners, quacks and midwifery. He gave an overview on consent for sterilization, MTP, PCPNDT Act, surrogacy laws passed by loksabha, altruistic surrogacy with the help of many case studies. He spoke about the punishments for the failure to report or to record a case. He gave his inputs on medical negligence and its implications. He majorly focused on euthanasia in India i.e., withdrawal of life supports to patients. He concluded the session by talking about the latest changes in medical acts.

Mr. Rohit Sathe, President, Health Systems, Philips headed the panel discussion and began the session by introducing Philips and their mission and vision. His session was mainly focused on 4 components- accessibility, speed & accuracy, value solutions and innovations.

The session then moved forward to Mr. Vidhi Prasad K V, Head, Wipro GE South Asia. He talked about medical technology. He also touched upon the E-commerce portal for service parts & accessories like Medtronics, Siemens, Philips, etc.

Mr. Surendra Deodhar, VP, Reliance Life Sciences Pvt Ltd took over the session and proceeded to talk about equitable distribution of medicines in India, especially in rural areas, where access to these privileges is a challenge.

The session was concluded by a small Q-A session between the speakers and the audience.

Dr. Simmardeep Singh Gill, COO CK Birla Group Kolkata, began his session by touching upon the very concept of strategic leadership. He talked about the increment in competition and other factors with the help of forecasted charts based on reported data. He also described the challenges associated with the business models. These include: low public spending and high out of pocket spending, talent shortage and high attrition, fragmented industry and lack of standardization. He spoke about the widening trust deficit between the patient and the provider. He stressed about the high asset business model which has put a lot of strain in the financial metrics like sinking valuation, margin pressure an payout of insurance players. Micro insurance was given key importance. He concluded by sharing with us the growth story of CMRI which majorly focused on procurement optimization, patient experience, clinician engagement and manpower optimization.

The post tea break proceedings of day one of SYMHEALTH 2019 began with two parallel sessions. The first session was chaired by Dr. Satpathy, Director, School of Public Health, KIIT Deemed University. He talked in detail about the conceptual meaning of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). He emphasized on the need to have quality medicine, quality treatment, skilled workforce and the public should not face any difficulties while accessing them. He also stated the importance of having Primary Health Centres (PHCs), their efficiency and effectiveness in providing health to all. He stated that 80% of the Health needs can be taken care at PHCs. Further, he addressed the myths regarding Universal Health Coverage. He then proceeded to describe some key facts about UHC and its association with the World Health Organization (WHO). He concluded the session by talking about NRHM and Health Service Providers.

Also Read:
AI and Cybersecurity in Digital Healthcare
How Data Analytics Will Increase the Quality of Care?

The second parallel session on Pharmacovigilance & Clinical Data Management was conducted by Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar, Head, Epidemiology & Communicable Diseases, ICMR. He started his session with elaborating on why is pharmacovigilance required. He stated that the aim of pharmacovigilance is to detect unknown AEs at earliest and ensure patient safety. He did a comparative analysis of clinical trials and use after approval.

This analysis was done on the basis of the number of participants, the total duration of observation, vulnerable population, pharmacogenetics, concomitant medicines, and dose and duration. He spoke in detail about the increasing scope of pharmacovigilance. He spoke about the key stakeholders in pharmacovigilance. He spoke in detail about Nevirapine and post-exposure prophylaxis. He further emphasized the importance of the Periodic Safety Update Report (PSUR). Inputs regarding the mandatory data fields in reporting were provided. Role of Indian pharmacopeia commission topic was touched upon by sir. Sir primarily spoke about the importance of the Bradford Hill criteria. He further gave an overview of the national AEH surveillance and emphasized on the ICSR processor. Lastly, sir spoke about IC025 and disproportionate reporting. Sir concluded by saying that pharmacovigilance is an important activity for safety and that good data quality and its completeness is critical in signal detection.

Mr. Lalit Mistry, Director of Healthcare, KPMG began his session by talking about the emerging health trends in India and speaking about the future of consulting in healthcare. He talked about the potential impact on the healthcare industry by the emerging medical technology innovations, treatment innovations, proactive wellness, and digital health. He discussed the drivers of healthcare; the drivers being technology improvements, market forces, costs, regulatory reform, and consumerism. Mr. Mistry then proceeded to talk about the major broad buckets of consultancy sector including project management, management consulting, HR consulting, etc. He stated the fact that healthcare consulting market in India is fragmented and underdeveloped mainly in operations, clinical and strategy consulting. He then concluded the session by giving a brief overview about the career path prospect in healthcare consulting and the skills required like number crunching, report writing, communication skills and the ability to travel in short periods of time and domain knowledge. The session was proceeded by a Q-A session between the speaker and the audience.

The day concluded with sessions on Emerging roles & Opportunities for Healthcare management professionals by Dr. Dinesh Pashankar, Associate Professor, Yale University, USA. He spoke about the equitable distribution of medical equipment’s devices & pharma products. The Department of Pharmaceuticals of India is working towards the initiative to source at least 50% of these domestically so as to reduce procurement and heavy import charges and also make these easily available.

The day concluded with session by Dr. Col. Ajay Gangoli, Group Medical Director, Apollo Health & Lifestyle Ltd. He talked about the Multiple Dimensions of Communication in Health Care Industry. He stated that the purpose of disseminating health information is to influence personal health choices by improving health literacy.

Day 2: Saturday, April 20, 2019

Day 2 of SYMHEALTH 2019 opened up with paper presentations by delegates. There were 4 candidates who presented on various topics.

The second session of the day was an engaging talk on Corporate Social Responsibility in Healthcare by Dr. Sitarama Budaraju, Consultant, Healthcare Projects, Tata Trust. He introduced top 10 healthcare CSR projects in India in 2018. He spoke about the current health status. He touched upon the supply side constraints namely Human resource for health infrastructure, Health financing, Pharmaceutical, and supply chain and Technology. He emphasized the training of peripheral health workers in soft skills. He ended his session by focusing on the importance of documentation support.

Dr. Anirudha Malpani, Director & Founder, Malpani Ventures discussed the common beliefs among the people that doctors are dinosaurs i.e. they work in older ways than embracing any new technology. He said these days’ people practice eminence-based medicine, not evidence-based medicines. He stated that self-diagnosis and self-prescription are very common among the people and wrongful. He further spoke about different innovations such as Heart buds – using the smartphone as the stethoscope, smartphone-based ECG monitor, peek – smartphone-based eye testing kit, etc. He said that the doctors see the patients daily, doctors know the patients then why should they wait for the engineers to do the innovation. He concluded the session by saying that patients should receive information therapy from doctors. He also appreciated word of mouth marketing approach. His whole session was focused on “Patient as Partner approach” and how communication is the key. The session was full of jocular remarks that made the session very interesting.

The session was anchored by Col. Ajay Gangoli, Group Medical Director, Apollo Health & Lifestyle. He introduced the other speakers. Col. Gangoli gave introductory of the topic than Ms. Nishi Saini took over.

Ms. Nishi Saini, Head- North, Clove Dental Clinics started the session with Clove dental clinics’ inception. She spoke about clove dental history and its vision and mission. She showed a various graph showing clinics and dentist. She explained how to manage the services at such a big scale smoothly. She spoke about talent management under which she focused on intelligent recruitment. She concluded by showing various aspects where Clove serves the need of the society. She concluded by showing various aspects where Clove serves the need of the society.

Mr. George Chemban, Business Head, Suburban Diagnostics started his session with an introduction about his company Suburban Diagnostic which was started by Dr. and Ms. Sanjay Arora. He stated that doctor-patient relationships are transactional in nature. He focused on the essentials for creating a chain of business units by specifying the business strategy and alignment of goals, standardization for customer experience, standardization of people and processes and standardization of technology.

Mr. Anand Mote, COO, Aster Hospital started his lecture by speaking about why healthcare chains are required. He replicated the lecture by third man’s view of setting a healthcare system. He spoke about the changing landscapes in healthcare chains where he spoke about the global players who are entering the Indian market, availability of capital and importance of well-informed customers. He gave a brief about types of healthcare facilities. He also gave a basic template for setting up and managing a chain of healthcare facilities. He ended the session by explaining how the brand is created and perceived in the healthcare system.

The valedictory ceremony on May 20, 2019, was graced by Surg. Vice Admiral Ravi Kalra, NM,VSM, Director and Commandant, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune; Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, IAS Divisional Commissioner, Nagpur, Dr. Rajani Gupte, Vice Chancellor, SIU & Dr. Rajiv Yeravdekar, Dean, Faculty of Health & Biological Sciences (FoHBS).

Around 1000 to 1200 healthcare professionals, from across the country comprising of professionals from diverse verticals of the healthcare sector including domains of Hospital & Healthcare Management, Medico-Legal Systems, Medical Insurance, Clinical Research, Healthcare IT professionals, General practitioners, Specialists & Doctors from Allied Health Sciences, Policymakers & Administrators, Representatives of the Pharma sector, Representatives of Civil Society Organizations and Representatives of private and public Healthcare sector organizations participated in this event.

SYMHEALTH 2019 | 19 – 20 April 2019