KOZHIKODE:
IIM Kozhikode in collaboration with Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) Jaipur, today, concluded day two of the International Conference on Global Health and Medical Tourism (GloHMT).
The event commenced on 7th March 2019 with a plenary keynote address by Prof. Jagdish Sheth, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing, Emory University Goizueta Business School and Prof. Dr. Angappa Gunasekaran, Dean and Professor, The School of Business & Public Administration, California State University. Prof. Sheth, in his keynote address, highlighted India is destined to become a global destination for medical tourism whereas Prof. Dr. Gunasekaran enlightened the participants about systematic perspective on the applications of big data analytics in healthcare management.
The event then witnessed an inaugural ceremony where all the industry veterans were introduced to the crowd. This was followed by a heartwarming welcome speech by Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM Kozhikode and Prof. Deepa Sethi, Chair, GloHMT, IIMK. The inaugural ceremony also comprised of speeches by Prof. A B Unnithan, Dean, Academic Affairs & Development, IIM Kozhikode. An address was also made by the guest of honours, Padma Shri Dr. M R Rajagopal, Founder Chairman, Pallium India where he spoke about the importance of palliative care and Dr. Nasser Yusuf, Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Vijayshree Award Winner.
Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM Kozhikode, patron of the conference while sharing his thoughts on the deliberations at the conference said, “These interventions from IIM Kozhikode are an effort to bring multi and cross-disciplinary research which is pragmatic in nature and goes a long way in connecting the dots between theory and practice.” Speaking about the conference, Prof. Deepa Sethi, Chair, GloHMT, IIM Kozhikode said, “We at IIM Kozhikode are immensely grateful to have witnessed participation from leading healthcare professionals of national and international repute. We hope to implement the learnings of the conference across the country to create India as a world class medical destination.”
The second day of the event started off with a visit to the business museum of IIM Kozhikode and was followed by a heartfulness session by Kamlesh D. Patel, Spiritual Leader, World Teacher of Heartfulness. After a traditional Onam Sadhya meal, plenary addresses were given by some of the renowned personalities of health and wellness sector.
Prof. Federico Lega, SDA Bocconi School of Management, University of Milan, Italy, spoke about capacity and leadership development in healthcare and medical tourism. He suggested glocal alliances to provide healthcare solutions with the help of disruptive technologies which can be accessible to all. He also highlighted various facts about the medical tourism industry worldwide and how one can gain competitive edge in the space. He emphasized on new strategic postures like hub and spoke model for medical accessibility worldwide.
Other stalwarts such as Dr. Narayankutty Warrier, Medical Director & Sr. Consultant Medical Oncology, MVR Cancer Centre and Research Institute, Kozhikode along with Dr. T. Sreekumar, Vice-Principal & Professor, Vaidyaratnam Ayurveda College, Ollur, Thrissur addressed the audience.
Talking about cancer management, Dr. Narayankutty Warrier, Medical Director & Sr. Consultant Medical Oncology, MVR Cancer Centre and Research Institute, Kozhikode said, “Cancer management as well as cure is very important for individuals. Our studies show data about various factors responsible for causing cancer and we have now identified various interventions for curing the same. We have also discovered different methods to diagnose if an individual is developing cancer, if yes, we can cure it at the initial stage.”
The Global Health and Medical Tourism conference aims at creating a platform for industry and academia to interact, deliberate and create knowledge resources that will be useful to all stakeholders as well as will contribute to the growth in the sector.
Kerala Tourism, MVR Cancer Research Centre, and Arya Vaidyashala, Kottakkal associated with the conference along with exhibitors like: Vaidyaratnam and Mathrubhumi Books. The conference was interactive and research driven to provide the best in class healthcare practices.
