Srinagar : A two-day International Workshop on ‘Role of Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology in Surgery and Medical Research’ in which Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) Awantipora is collaborating as Academic Partners began at Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar today. The workshop being organised by the Department of Surgery, GMC Srinagar in collaboration with a global open platform for research collaboration, Open Source Research (OPSORE). On this occasion a crucial Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between IUST and GMC to promote use of modern technology in health care and to encourage collaborative research.
According to a statement issued from Public Relations Office of the University, the workshop was inaugurated by Advisor to Lt Governor J&K, Shri R. R Bhatnagar who was the Chief Guest during the Inaugural Session in presence of Vice Chancellor IUST Prof. Shakil Ahmad Romshoo, Workshop Patron and the Guest of Honour, Principal/ Dean GMC Prof Samia Rashid Patron and Guest of Honour. Prof. Alaa El Hussuna Professor of Surgery Aalborg University Hospital Denmark and Founder of OPSORE, Chief Coordinator of the workshop, Prof. Mufti MehmoodHoD Surgery GMC and Workshop Chairman and Dr. Asif Mehraj Consultant and Organizing Secretary were also present.
While addressing the gathering, Advisor Bhatnagar congratulated both IUST and GMC on futuristic relevance of workshops such as these and highlighted the role of Govt in setting up more colleges across the UT to strengthen it academically. He spoke about relevance of AI in meeting demands of the future in the sector of health and its could assist even in control of drug abuse and psychiatric consultation. He also emphasised the legal and ethical issues regarding the use of AI but underlined the ‘finality of human intelligence’ and that technology was meant for our growth.
Vice Chancellor IUST Prof Romshoo while mentioning how AI had disrupted our lives for good, talked about the giant leap made by IUST in the field of AI and technological innovation and said, “IUST has taken a lead among the universities and institutions in the country in establishing a state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence in AI&ML, which is on a mission to undertake pathbreaking research as well as build capacity of faculty from all around J&K in this area.” He also added IUST was starting training programme for faculty members from various colleges of J&K and would train 50 college teachers in November. Prof Romshoo also spoke about how IUST was working on research and use of AI in climate change as well.
On this occasion, Dean Academic Affairs IUST Prof. Manzoor Ahmad Malik who signed the MoU with Principal/ Dean GMC said, “By entering into MoU, the two institutions shall symbiotically benefit each other both in terms of improving the health care and research to serve the society better. We at IUST have a pool of talented and well trained professionals and researcher in AI and biology, besides possessing the state-of-the-art facilities like High performance computing (HPC) that can be used for biological research. And GMC being one of the oldest medical colleges in North India has proven record of providing quality health care to the public.”
In his address Principal/ Dean GMC Srinagar appreciated the support of IUST as academic partners of the workshop in conducting the workshop. She also said that in future there shall be more close knitted collaboration between the two premier institutes in view of the MoU.
In a concluding para of the above referred statement, during the workshop, IUST faculty members Dr. Muzafar Rasool Bhat, Department of Computer Sciences and Dr. Assif Assad, Department of Computer Sciences and Engineering delivered lectures. Also present from IUST were Prof. Ayub Qadri, Dean School of Health Sciences and Professor Watson-Crick Centre (CFMM), Dr Muzafar A Macha, Dr. Rais A Ganai, Dr. Arshid Ganai, Dr. Asifa Mehraj Baba, Dr. MonisaQadri and Dr. Syed Zubair.
