CAHOTECH 2019: The 4th International Healthcare Technology Conference on Sept 27th and 28th
Technology has transformed human lives and healthcare is no exception. Technology is disrupting the healthcare delivery very rapidly and healthcare professionals and care providers are working hard to keep pace with it. The world is passing through the phase of 4th industrial revolution, characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. This phase is going to impact the healthcare most and undoubtedly healthcare providers need to be adequately prepared for the same.
Dr Vijay Agarwal, President of Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organizations (CAHO) conceptualized the idea of holding an annual event CAHOTECH to connect the healthcare providers with the latest in technology and also to showcase the innovations and early adoption of technology by the healthcare providers. Dr Girdhar Gyani (Patron and Founding Member), Dr Alexander Thomas (Past President) and Mr Som Mittal (Past President NASSCOM) greatly helped in nurturing this concept. Over the last three years, CAHOTECH has become the platform for healthcare providers to learn about the recent advances and also to make themselves ready for futuristic trends in the field of IT, medical equipment, machinery and processes. CAHOTECH also aims to develop a healthy and positive relationship between technology developers, innovators and stakeholders in healthcare delivery.
CAHO aims to promote patient safety and quality by training and creating resources. It also believes that appropriate, cost effective technology can help the hospitals to bring about safer and high quality healthcare delivery. CAHO believes that nurturing and mentoring innovation can bring about a change in the healthcare delivery system. Dr Lallu Joseph, Secretary General CAHO, highlighted that the market for medical technology in India is small, but rapidly expanding. It is nascent and highly fragmented with limited indigenous manufacturing; imports constitute over 75% of the estimated US$2.75 billion market. A transforming medical technology landscape, improving healthcare delivery and financing mechanisms, and changing patient profile are driving growth in the medical technology industry. This event looks at solutions to make modern healthcare accessible, available and affordable to all.
CAHOTECH was started as one-day event at Bangalore to bring the technology partners and healthcare industry to a common platform. This has grown in size to include start-ups, hospital innovations and bridging the gap. Dr S Nagendraswamy and Dr Narendranath, Organizing Chairperson and Organizing Secretary respectively for CAHOTECH 2017 and 2018, have contributed immensely for making this a must attend event for healthcare providers and technologists alike.
This year CAHOTECH 2019 which is the 4th conference has gone international and has lined up speakers bringing in global perspective. The event will be held at IIT Madras Research Park in Chennai from September 27-28, 2019.
More than 1,000 healthcare professionals from across the country will be attending the event this year to keep themselves up-to-date with latest technology and products. A major highlight of the event will be the presence of equity investors and venture capitalists who will be assessing participating start-ups for funding opportunities in healthcare technology space. Start-ups will also get to explore opportunities for incubation and engaging with hospitals for beta testing of products.
“The international healthcare technology conference organized by CAHO is the definitive event for health and technology innovation, investment and best practices. It showcases the latest technology based solutions to enable maximum efficiency at hospitals. It is the only platform of its kind that brings together healthcare organizations and technology companies under one roof to share and utilize their experience and adopt more efficient practices by healthcare organizations. The objective is to help introduce newer and better technology solutions to hospitals”, said Dr Vijay Agarwal, President CAHO.
Over two days, CAHOTECH 2019 will see presentations and discussions on different areas of healthcare, analysing real-life case studies and the change in efficiency that technology can bring. The conference will be focused on showcasing future healthcare technologies for clinicians, hospital managers and administrators, biomedical engineers, scientists, researchers and other stakeholders interested in promoting change through innovation and advancement in healthcare. Several workshops and master classes will be held on strategic planning of IT infrastructure, cyber-security, point-of-care medical devices, and use of technology in medical education, healthcare engineering and maintenance.
The solutions to the problems are best identified and solved by the hospital teams themselves. This conference also brings such hospital innovations to be presented to other hospitals to adopt these solutions and also innovate and find simple solutions for their inherent problems, said Dr Lallu Joseph, Secretary General, CAHO
In the words of J Adel, Organizing Secretary, CAHOTECH 2019, “The focus of CAHOTECH 2019 will be on technological innovations in the areas of process efficiency and optimum utilisation, enhancing clinical and patient care and empowering patients. This year, we are also bringing health-tech start-ups and investors on the same platform. The aim is to capture good technology at early stages and empower the innovators to scale up and grow.”
Added Sameer Mehta, Organizing Chairman, CAHOTECH 2019, “The event this year will be on even a grander scale than before. An important aspect will be sharing of experiences and key learnings regarding technological innovations already functional at some of our member hospitals. There will also be assessment of newer technologies and showcasing of promising start-ups. CAHOTECH 2019 will also facilitate business discussions through a separate arm of vendors showcasing their latest technology and products.”
Bharathi Reddy, Managing Trustee and CEO, Vijaya Group of Hospitals and also the Tamil Nadu State Representative of CAHO is extremely delighted to be hosting the event at Chennai and overwhelmed with the support received from various partners.
Technical partners of CAHOTECH 2019 include IIT Madras, IIT Mumbai’s SINE Business Incubator, NASSCOM, FICCI, Indian Angel Network, TIE Global, Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre, Start-Up Podium, Mumbai Angels Network, The Chennai Angels, Vellore Institute of Technology, and Health Pod.