THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A two-day national conference on students’ medical research (NATCON) 2018 of Kerala University of Health Sciences will begin at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College (TMC) on November 9. The conference that is based on the theme ‘Universal Health Coverage’ will be inaugurated by Governor P Sathasivam. The event is organised by the Department of Community Medicine, TMC.
“The event comprises talks on ‘Kerala Floods 2018: Lessons and Challenges’ and ‘Nipah in Kerala-What next? Learning together from experience and preparing for the future’. It will be attended by medical students, officers from the Health Department, faculty members of various medical colleges, public health experts and others,” said Dr Tony Lawrence, NATCON general convener.
Health secretary Rajeev Sadanandan will deliver a talk on ‘Universal Health Coverage - An overview: Where does Kerala stand’; K P Kannan, former director of CDS, will deliver the talk on ‘Lessons from Kerala Floods 2018, Challenges for Building a New Kerala.’
Meanwhile, Dr P S Indu, head of the Department of Community Medicine, TMC, said the highlight of the event will be talks on Nipah virus outbreak and its containment. Dr PO Nameer, head, Centre for Wild Life Studies will deliver a talk on ‘Understanding bat dynamics in Nipah transmission, Is primary prevention possible ?’. Two more sessions attended by health experts from Kozhikode and TMC will share their first-hand experience on Nipah outbreak and its prevention.