KOCHI: Becon 18, a one-day health conference comprising sessions on advanced technology in healthcare, was conducted at Cochin Gymkhana at Vytilla as part of Excel 2018, the techno-managerial festival of Govt Model Engineering College (MEC). Every year, Excel witnesses participation of students from all over the country in the various technical and non-technical events of high calibre organised by the institute.
V Pranav, chairman of Excel 2018, welcomed the gathering to Becon 18. V P Devassia, the principal of Model Engineering College, addressed the gathering. Vivek V George, secretary of EMBS, Kerala Section was the chief guest.Becon 18 had four sessions that dealt with topics from different fields and a paper presentation competition was also held.
Session 1 dealt with start-ups, entrepreneurship and beyond. The talk was given by Charu Ramanathan, co-founder at CardioInsight, Lokyat, Vitalxchange. The students got an idea as to how to convert their technical skills into building a start-up in this session. It included a brief overview on the skills required as an entrepreneur while establishing a start-up. “Social health connectivity can improve meaningful healthcare conversations between people even if they aren’t related,” she remarked. She also gave a detailed look into her innovation, Cardioinsight. She urged the audience to come forward and provide healthcare to the rural communities. She also spoke about the MEC program wherein she provided opportunities for the present students of MEC via internship positions.
Session two was on the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. The talk was given by Rajaneesh Kini, vice president, Aricent. This session included current patterns of research in AI, application in different areas of medicine, chiefly, radiology. Other key points highlighted the present and possible future role of artificial intelligence in telemedicine, development of better algorithms for intelligent medicine.
In session three the topic journey of developing affordable medical devices for India was dealt with by Jayadeep Unni, founder, Sensivision Health Technologies. He provided answers to several queries related to the potential and opportunities in healthcare sector for biomedical students.
With the help of his product, Revive, he conveyed the intricate details of development of medical technology. “All we do should be for people who cannot afford these advanced healthcare technologies,” he told the audience. The final session covered nanotechnology and its applications in drug delivery and cancer treatment.