The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in association with, Medica Superspecialty Hospital Kolkata, organized Health Tech 2018 which was held on 8th-11th March 2018 at the Hyatt Regency Kolkata.

The Objectives of Health Tech 2018 were:

• The only dedicated event in Eastern India region for the healthcare & wellness industry
• To showcase and demonstrate best-in-class technology solutions tailor-made for the healthcare sector
• To promote & showcase medical devices/equipment
• Opportunity to do B2B meetings directly with industry professionals
• Ideal platform to introduce new products & applications
• Meeting business partners under one roof
• Expand business opportunity in a region with tremendous growth in healthcare market
• Explore new business opportunities
• Ideal platform to enhance brand image and build awareness
• Evaluate the competition

From electronic records in the doctor’s office, to robotic instruments in the operating room, information technology is redefining how healthcare functions in our society.

The use of technology in healthcare in the forms of Robotics, Analytics, Tele Medicine, AI to name a few, is gaining popularity with passing time and improving with scientific advancements. Use of healthcare mobile applications are increasingly gaining popularity. According to industry estimates, about 500 million smartphone users worldwide would be using a health care application by 2015, and by 2018, 50 percent of the more than 3.4 billion smartphone and tablet users will have downloaded mobile health applications. In this context, some of the cutting edge technology applications which are shaping the healthcare today and creating the pathway for healthcare in few years to come were discussed, demonstrated and showcased at the Health Tech 2018.

The Health Tech 2018 summit started with a curtain raiser on global perspectives on 8th March 2018. The programme was addressed by His Excellency Archil Dzuliashvili, Ambassador of Georgia to the Republic of India, the Kingdom of Thailand, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Government of Georgia and Mr. Moloy Banerjee, Head, South Asia, Linde Gases Division was a special invitee.

The three days that followed had a different focus each. 9th March was focused on the Information Technology part of technologies in healthcare. 10th March, focused on the entrepreneurship and business opportunities for technologies in the healthcare space; while 11th March was a focused medicalconference l where the focus was on healthcare and the technological practices that are existing in this domain.

9th March 2018

The Opening Session included Dr. Michael Feiner, Consul General, Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany Kolkata who spoke on HealthTech as an opportunity for Business Collaboration- Promoting Bilateral Business between: Germany and India with special focus on Eastern India. The programme was also graced by His Excellency Archil Dzuliashvili, Ambassador of Georgia to the Republic of India, the Kingdom of Thailand, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Government of Georgia. The programme also featured a launch of a special publication titled “Reimagining the possible in India’s Healthcare with emerging technologies” authored by PwC India.

Another significant feature of the programme was the Signing of MoU between Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The MoU was signed by His Excellency Archil Dzuliashvili, Ambassador of Georgia to the Republic of India, the Kingdom of Thailand, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Government of Georgia and Mr. Subhodip Ghosh, Director General, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The session was further addressed by Dr. Rana Mehta, Partner, Leader Healthcare, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. on ‘AI, Analytics and the Future of Healthcare’. Mr. Sanjiv Mehta, Country Manager – Education, Healthcare and Startup’s, HP gave us the Industry Perspective on VR and 3D printing. The Theme Address on ‘Next Wave of Healthcare Transformation’ was delivered by Mr. Girish Kulkarni, Chairperson – CHIME India Chapter, Board Member – HIMSS India APAC Chapter and Jt. Secretary – CIOKlub Governing Body. Mr. Abhijit Majumdar, Leader IT Strategy, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. spoke about IoT in Healthcare.

The Opening Session was followed by the CIO’s Forum themed ‘When Technology converges with Health care to deliver advanced services’. The Session was chaired by Mr. Sanjoy Sen, Co-Chairperson, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Senior Vice President, ITC Infotech India Limited and the Panelists included Mr. Nandkishor Dhomne, VP-IT & CIO, Manipal Hospitals; Mr. Girish Koppar, Sr. Manager – IT, Lilavati Hospital; Mr Inderjith Davalur, Group CIO, KIMS; Mr Niranjan Ramakrishnan, Group Head IT, Kauvery Hospitals; Mr. Ishaq Quadri, Consultant CIO and Secretary HIMSS India; Mr. Syed K Murshed, General Manager – IT, Medica Hospitals Pvt Ltd and Mr. Sudip Roy, CEO, Tickto Inc. and Group Advisor, AMRI Hospitals and Frank Ross Ltd.

The programmealso included a Session themed Destination West Bengal for Health Tech: Case Studies, Experiences and Best Practices

● Wearables
● IoT
● AI

This Session was chaired by Dr. Arpan Pal, Principal Scientist & Head, Embedded Systems & Robotics, TCS Research & Innovation, TATA Consultancy Services who also shared his insights on best practices. Panelists of this session included Dr. Sudip Nag, Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering (E&ECE),IIT KGP and Dr. K.M Mandana, MCh, Consultant, Fortis Hospital Anandapur.

Japan Hour

“Japan Hour” was scheduled in the afternoon as a parallel session on 9th March 2018,.

A Japanese Delegation, comprising of five Japanese companies, participated in the “Japan Hour”.

The delegation was led by Mr. Kazuya Nakajo, Chief Director General, JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization),(under Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, Government of Japan).

It was a high profiled Delegation with the representatives from Heath Care Sector including ●Hiroshima University Hospital; ●Hitachi India Pvt. Ltd; ●Asahi Intecc Co. Ltd; ●Omron Healthcare India Pvt. Ltd. and ●Air Water India Private Limited.

The objective of the programme was to create a platform to facilitate dedicated B2B Meetings with the delegate members of Japan and to strengthen the business collaboration between Japan and India.

The session was opened by Mr. Chiranjib Bhattacharya, CEO, Wizertech Informatics Pvt Ltd by delivering the formal Welcome Address. Mr. Yasuhiko Tanaka, Deputy Consul General, Consulate General of Japan in Kolkata also graced the occasion.

Mr. Kazuya Nakajo, Chief Director General, JETRO shared his insights on population of Japan in respect of aging, heath care system in Japan, the economics of Health Care in Japan and business opportunities in Japan in the realm of Health Care sector.

The meeting included a very vibrant B2B session during which the local business participants interacted with the Japanese companies.

10th March 2018

The Opening Session included Dr. G D Puri, Professor and Head of the Department, Anaesthesia and Intensive care, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, (PGIMER), Chandigarh delivering the Address Extraordinaire on ‘AI in Medicine’; Mrs. Sulabha Ranade, Director General, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India (SAMEER) delivering the Special Address on Linear Accelerator for Cancer Treatment and Mr. Viresh Oberoi, President, TiE Kolkata delivered the Special Remarks on Digital Health providing opportunities to Medical Entrepreneurs and Tech start ups.

Mohammed Saiful Islam, First Secretary (Commercial), Bangladesh Dy. High Commission was a special invitee in this session shared his insights on Social Entrepreneurship – a collaborative approach for healthcare to address social issues through technology.

This was followed by presentations on excellence of innovation. The objective of the session was to highlight innovation as an intrinsic part of entrepreneurship. The perspective of finance was also integrated in this session. The presentations and speeches included Creating Solutions Using Technology for Operational Efficiency: A Medica Experience by Dr. Saumitra Bharadwaj, Group VP Ops Medica Hospital; Latest Innovations from Philips Healthcare in Imaging Systems by Mr. Sanjoy Chakraborty---Regional Business Manager, East & Bangladesh; Medical Virtualism by Dr Shyama Nagarajan, Managing Director, SahaManthran Pvt Ltd and Perspectives of Financer by Mr. Ashwin Srivastava, Co Founder and Director, Idein Ventures.

“HealthHack” was an Innovation Competition on healthcare which was held as a precursor to Health Tech. we received 30 applications which was shortlisted by our Official Tabulators SahaManthran Pvt Ltd.

The Jury consisted of Mr. Sanjoy Sen, Co-Chairperson, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Senior Vice President, ITC Infotech India Limited; Mr. Debasis Basu, Co- Chairperson, IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Vice President – Projects, Cognizant Technology Solutions India Limited;; Dr Shyama Nagarajan, Managing Director, SahaManthran Pvt Ltd; Mr. Ashwin Srivastava, Co Founder and Director, Idein Ventures and Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Vice Chairman-BMMSH, Director Institute of Neurosciences.

Mr. Syed K Murshed, Member of IT Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and General Manager – IT, Medica Hospitals Pvt Ltd was a key resource person for Health Hack who also facilitated the Jury proceedings. There were 8 finalists after the short listing. These finalists were invited to make presentations in front of the audience and judges.

The following innovations were presented
1. Fall – Safe Device For Elderly People
2. Connected Devices For Examination Of Blood And Urine And Machine Learning & Ai Based Cognitive Remote Health Monitoring Platform
3. Electro-Oculo Arm
4. DeadDia
5. Smart Water Management
6. Portable Olfactory Diabetes Detection Device
7. 3D Printing For Development (3D4D)
8. Emergency Health Monitoring System

The winners were as follows:

In first place, the winning team of Health Hack was “Portable Olfactory Diabetes Detection Device”; in second place was “Connected devices for examination of blood and urine and machine learning & AI based cognitive remote health monitoring platform”; in third place was “3D Printing for Development (3D4D)” and the Best Student Entry award was given to “Fall – Safe Device For Elderly People”.

11th March 2018

The theme of the day was Medical Conference on New Age Technologies for High End Delivery. The Theme Address was delivered by Dr. Kunal Sarkar, Sr. Vice Chairman, MEDICA Superspecialty Hospital at the Opening Session. The Special Remarks was deliveredby Prof. Bhabatosh Biswas, Former Vice Chancellor, The West Bengal University of Health Sciences.

The Opening Session was followed by the Plenary Session themed Business and Economics of Healthcare. The topics addressed in this session included Technology, Innovation and Equity of Cancer Care in India by Dr Vaskar Saha, Professor of Paediatric, Haematology/Oncology and Director of Research, Tata Medical Center; Technological Innovation and Healthcare Cost by Prof. Barun Kanjilal, Health Economist and Former Professor, Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) University; Presentation on Lean six sigma for efficient hospital management by Ms. Kamakshi Kumar, The Analysis Company.

This was followed by the final session of the day where topics addressed included Bulls Eye! Techniques to Ensure the accurate delivery of Radiation Therapy in Clinical practice by Dr. Indranil Mallick, Consultant Radiation Oncologist, Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata; Technologies for Circumcision – A Possible Area of Business Collaboration with Special Focus on India and Bangladesh by Dr. Munal Mahbub, Vice President Chittagong Women Chamber, Chief Hospital Head ( Surgiscope Hospital Ltd),Member (Sub Committee) Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chairman at Organic Valley Lake Resort.

Prof (Dr.) Rabin Chakraborty, Sr. Vice Chairman, MEDICA Superspecialty Hospital delivered the Concluding Remarks.