New Delhi: Who doesn’t want to live long? According to The Global Longevity Survey (by Roundglass) — a first-of-its-kind worldwide survey on longevity and ageing found that 62 per cent of Indians have a positive attitude towards ageing and over half desire to live forever. The survey was conducted across 25 countries, including India and 14,000 people were polled. In India, around 1,000 people participated in the survey and shared their beliefs and practices for living healthily and for long. The findings of this survey also show that respondents from every country, expect Japan want to increase their lifespans by 10 years to an average of 84 years. Over two-thirds of the respondents believe in adopting a holistic approach to longevity, with the strongest belief in Asia.
The survey, and many other studies on longevity, may sound buoyant, but science has also taken a long step with conducting multiple experiments that have shown potential in increasing the human lifespan.
With this as the driving thought, TV9 Network and South First, jointly organised an inaugural edition of the healthcare summit on August 3, titled Dakshin Healthcare Summit 2024. The broad idea was to discuss the strides that science has made and the way forward for us in the march towards longevity. The role of AI to aid this was also deliberated upon by key healthcare providers present at the summit.
Here are some of the points that were considered during the conclave.
Highlights of Dakshin Healthcare Summit 2024, Hyderabad
Good lifestyle changes impact life span: The conclave kicked off with an inaugural address by Dr Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals at Taj Krishna In Hyderabad. Moderating the panel on the topic of ‘Secrets of Longevity, Unravelling the Science’ was Dr Arvinder Singh Soin, Chairman of the Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine, at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram. He started off the discussion on a bright note saying, “Heart attacks, kidney disease and other diseases are preventable, especially among Indians.” Also present on the dais was Dr Vritti Lumba, Programme Head at Fortis Cancer Institutes, who emphasised on the practice of “predicting and preventing metabolism and insulin resistance.”
Dr Ummer Qadeer, Clinical Process Lead Physician at the Hooke, London, also chimed in with his thoughts via a video conference. He spoke about lifestyle intervention and said, “The only way is to control our nutrition and it all begins with analysing what one puts in one’s own body. Reducing saturated fats, protein intake, fibre intake can be very helpful. Without nutrition and fitness, people tend to gain back the weight they lost. By limiting metabolic syndrome, intervention can be made for cardiovascular disease.”
Speaking about the importance of sleep, Dr Manvir Bhatia, Director and Founder of Neurology and Sleep Centre said, “In simple terms, when we go through sleep, we go through different stages, at least 4-5 cycles. Our cortisol system goes down when we sleep. Sleep deprivation activates the inflammatory system in your body. We are obese and angry due to lack of sleep.”
Eminent doctors present at the summit proposed the need for setting up dedicated centres to focus on wellness and positive medicine for longevity.
The role of technology: Addressing challenges of Artificial Intelligence, Dr Vijay Chandru, Founder, Strand Life Sciences said that the big challenge is with certain types of AI. “Especially Generative AI. Most excitement is about generative AI. One has to remember that these are Black box technologies. When you run a deep neural network, how do you know what it is saying? How do you explain the conclusions it is arriving at? This is not going to meet any regulatory standards.” A big positive is the Ayushman Bharat digital mission where we are going to collect data and create large digital lockers. “The ability to leverage that is important,” he stated.
The role of AI in neurology is also something that was vividly discussed in the panel. Dr Syed M Ghouse, Consultant Robotic Surgeon and Urologist at the AINU India, expanded on the benefits of robotics in neurology. “In Neurology, robotics is used extensively more than any other field. Precision is only possible through robotics and I can vouch for that.”
AI in Drug Discovery, Diagnosis: Dr Soin opined that AI is playing a big role in drug discovery, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of diseases. “Drug discovery used to be manual but it’s now built into AI algorithms. Time of discovery has shrunk significantly. In diagnostics, for pathology and imaging, AI algorithms are very good,” he enlightened the audience.
He further said that majority of surgeries are now performed with robotic intervention. “Robotic instruments can get to nooks and corners that hands and normal instruments cannot get into. Precision of surgery is much better now.”
Dr Gagandeep Kang, FRS, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also a part of the panel discussion, stated that AI will improve the existing models of vaccine production and research beyond human capabilities. “Using AI we can significantly cut down on the time wasted on trial and error. There is precedent for AI assisting in vaccine production in South Korea, and it is likely to occur more,” she said.
Eat right, say bye to junk: Dr Shashikant Iyengar in a session on managing obesity, infertility, lifestyle diseases among others placed the blame squarely on processed junk food. “Junk food is the major cause of obesity. Intake of high refined omega-6 oils are also said to be insulin resistant. The way out is to abstain from excess sugar, refined oil, increase protein intake. The moment we increase protein intake other macros will come down. Of course it has to be coupled with adequate exercise, stress management and good sleep,” she said at the event. To this, Dr KD Modi, Endocrinologist at Care Hospitals added that, “Obesity is the mother of all diseases and interestingly, Obesity is lesser in rural India, unlike the urban India. It’s a rapidly growing disease.”
The august panel also deliberated upon the role of nutrition for a long and healthy life. Dr Esther Sathiaraj said that determining the number of calories needed is important and then they should be broken down according to macronutrients. “In Indian diets, the maximum calories still are through carbohydrates.”
Addressing issue of infertility is crucial: Addressing infertility issues in couples, Dr Anuradha Katragadda, said obesity in both men and women affects fertility. “In men, it can affect the number of sperm and women might have other pregnancy-related complications. “If a woman is below 35 years of age and is having issues conceiving for about a year, the person might have infertility issues. If above 35 years, tests should be done after 6 months, and if a woman is above 40 years, the tests should be done after 4 months.”
All the sessions at the Dakshin Healthcare Summit 2024 conclave were aimed at arriving at this conclusion on longevity – is it possible, if so, is it desirable and whether long life was a guarantee of a healthy life too. There were some key issues that were addressed at the recently concluded thought-conclave and some others that will require deliberation in further editions of the healthcare summit.
The Dakshin Healthcare Summit 2024, an initiative by TV9 Network and South First, is now available for viewing on News9 Plus, the world’s first news OTT platform. Discover the event highlights and insights from this groundbreaking summit.
Watch video at News9 Plus OTT: https://www.news9plus.com/player/shortvideo/dakshin-healthcare-summit-2024
Download News9 Plus: https://onelink.to/wx979r
Special thanks to our esteemed partners: Health On Us, AINU (Asian Institute of Nephrology & Urology), ICHOR Biologics PVT Ltd., Vasavi Group, and ORSL.
TV9 Network and South First recently hosted a ‘Dakshin Healthcare Summit 2024’, a thought leadership conclave to bring together the brightest minds from within the healthcare fraternity and create a unique platform for exchange of ideas and opinions. The aim of the conclave was to innovate and ideate about how people can live a longer, disease-free and healthy life Health News Health News: Latest News from Health Care, Mental Health, Weight Loss, Disease, Nutrition, Healthcare
