The 14th National Conference on Students’ Medical Research (NATCON 2024), which serves as a platform for undergraduate medical students from across the country to present their research studies and exchange ideas with each other, began in the State capital on Friday.
The annual event is organised by the Community Medicine department of Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram and Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS) to encourage MBBS students to try their hands at research and to train them in various research methodologies and presentation skills and to introduce to them the scope and depth of public health.
The theme of the conference this year is “Breaking barriers for building health; collaborative approaches in public health research”.
Students are given an opportunity to present their research studies at the conference, followed by interactive sessions with experts on how their research can be scaled up or improved.
Speaking on the topic, Population Ageing, the chairman of the International Institute for Migration and Development, S. Irudaya Rajan, spoke about the rapidly ageing population and the dipping death and birth rate in the State.
The mental health of the aged was emerging as a cause for concern, especially in households where elderly parents were leading a lonely life with all their children away from home, he said.
The other topics discussed on Friday included “One health, climate change” and the “Cutting edge technologies in research”.
The two-day event is also a get-together of medical students from across the country, clubbed with cultural events and quiz contests. Over 300 delegates, including students and researchers from various medical colleges are taking part in the event.
NATCON 2024 was inaugurated by the KUHS Vice-Chancellor, Kunnummal Mohanan.
