A three-day international symposium on surgical innovations and healthcare was inaugurated on February 18 in Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, USA, and Boston Childrens Hospital, also in the USA.

The thrust of the symposium was on innovations for surgery affordable to the rural communities in India, with the participation of expert doctors from the Harvard Medical School and Boston Childrens Hospital along with surgeons and researchers from different parts of India.

Speaking at the symposium, senior scientist from Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, Dr C V Muralidharan said young engineers and medical professionals should embark on a journey towards technical innovation.

Giving a glimpse of the current technical innovation trends that have currently found a space in healthcare, he exhorted the students to bridge the gap between the existing technology and the need of the hour. Dr Alexander Peters from Harvard Medical School and Dr Salim Afshar of Boston Childrens Hospital highlighted the different aspects of innovations and provided practical pointers in the area of healthcare, a press release from Karunya Institute said.

Experts from the Harvard Medical School detailed about the problems in global surgery and anaesthesia and how one could work towards ensuring safe affordable surgery, especially in rural areas, the release said. A team of doctors from Haiti was also presenting a few case studies at the event.

The team from Harvard Medical School had conducted a few hackathons earlier and the Boston Childrens Hospital had funded around a dozen innovative projects on surgery in the rural areas, which were being presented by the students carrying out the project, it said. Based on the presentations at the hackathon, Boston Childrens Hospital would provide funding to the students to carry out the innovative projects, the release said.