PSG Hospitals hosted a one day summit on Research and Innovations in Cardiovascular Science (RICS) on 21.11.2019 to celebrate the Hospitals’ Cardiac Departments’ contributions in the field of Cardiology. The event also served as a platform for many pre-eminent men in various fields of healthcare to gather and talk about how indigenous medical device manufacturing could solve the burden that people face in India due to inaccessibility and unaffordability
Dr.J.S Bhuvaneshwaran , Director, PSG Super Specialty Hospital welcomed the gathering. He mentioned that this program is very much needed one in the present times as the need for indigenous medical devices is more. He felt glad that while most events like this have clinical deliberations, this event on the other hand has deliberations on Research and Innovations which will inspire and inform the younger generations of the medical fraternity their role and responsibility in reducing the burden of society that arise due to less access to medi-care.
G.R.Karthikeyan, Founder Trustee, PSG & Sons’ Charities mentioned about the difficulty in starting a private medical college in the past, and lauded G.Varadaraj, the Founder Trustee of PSG Hospitals as a man of foresight and great courage. He conveyed to the students that in 35 years, the hospital and medical college have become one of the best institution in Country.
He said the Engineering colleges of PSG have got its own reputation and technology. We have a department there for making medical devices. It is now time to combine that medical device department with the hospital to innovate medical equipment. He said certain medical devices and equipment are so expensive they are hard for the rural hospitals to procure. What they are aiming to do at PSG at this point of time is exploring how can they manufacture those devices and equipment and make it simpler and affordable.
Already they are working on a ventilator that will cost just one-fifth of what it is in the market. This is one of the many projects PSG Tech and PSG Hospitals would be focusing on.
He said education and medical fraternity have played a great role in improving the lifespan of the people in India to 70 at present while it was just 38 in 1940s. He urged the young attendees that if they wish to compare India with other countries, let the comparison be among the neighboring countries around us and not immediately with the West, then will they realize that we are living in a rapidly progressing country.
Organizing Chairman said the idea behind this is to make young generation at PSG should take initiatives of their own to fulfil the mission of Make in India and it starts with ‘Make in PSG’ concept. Cardiac Surgeons, Cardiothoracic surgeons, Operation Room related specialists, bio medical, bio-technological, nanotechnology, mechanical engineering and all paramedical science specialists are participating in this event. The goal is to make medical devices in India itself and reduce the burden people face due to inaccessibility and unaffordability of these devices.
Dr.S.Ramalingam in his Keynote Address said that though the Right to Health is not a fundamental right in the Indian Constitution, Right to Life falls in that category and Life cannot be lived without health. He said former Prime Minister took steps in 1973-74 to bring process patenting in India which enabled the pharmaceutical industries to produce medicines at affordable. But after 2003, when the policy was shifted to Product Patenting, the costs of medicines went up. Product patenting is also the policy that governs medical devices.
He said the nation depends on foreign medical device makers and imports devices and implants in billions of dollars. Mentioning that great number of Indians are unable to access these devices and implants due to the exorbitant price, it is a must for the nation to develop quality and affordable devices on its own, thereby making everyone have their Right to Life.
PSG IMS&R and PSG College of Technology have come together in many fronts and have come up with Make in PSG as its guiding element. Department of Pathology and Microbiology are collaborating with Dept of Computer Science in PSG Tech have come up with an algorithm for faster and precise detection of organisms and tissue pathology. With an alumni of PSG in the US, they have collaborated with material science experts and are in the making of cardiac valves and also its pre-clinical testing. This project was sanctioned by NIH-DBT Program.
A device called Octopus that is used in Beating Heart Surgery is also being manufactured by Cardiothoracic Dept with PSG Tech’s assistance.
A crowning achievement in this endeavor is that Dr.N.Ramalingam, Urologist and Visiting Scholar of PSG IMSR has developed a Robotic Endo-chainer with IIT Chennai and PSG Tech. The product has reached an advance and matured stage.
Liver Surgeons of PSG IMSR have developed an equipment that can support the liver during its transfer from a deceased person to the needy. Till the liver could be transplanted into a host it needs support. This device could give that support. We have developed pediatric and adult ventilator which the DRDO actually sanctioned PSG Tech and we have collaborated with them.
He said that with the enormous support from PSG & Sons’ Charities and from the Government, PSG could contribute greatly to the nation.
Following this RICS 2019 Best Innovator Awards were presented to the brains behind such inventions. Later the knowledge sessions commenced. Luminaries from various part of the TN and other districts shared their knowledge and ideas.