SREE CHITRA TIRUNAL INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY TRIVANDRUM - 695 011, KERALA ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19 Annual Report 2018-19 Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology Trivandrum Editorial Team Dr Shivakumar K Dr Kesavadas C Dr Deepti A N Dr Neethu Mohan Dr Anugya Bhatt Mr Sarath S Nair Dr Sruthi S Nair Dr Madhusoodanan U K Dr Jeemon P Mr Venkita Subramania Iyer N Mr Thomas P Abraham Technical support Research and Publications Cell SCTIMST Cover and Graphics Dr Manoj Komath Photography Medical Illustration SCTIMST Design and Printing Vision Grafix, Trivandrum Phone: 0471-2340914 Mobile: 9072340914 CONTENTS History .................................................................................. 5 Our Mission, Our Vision ...................................................... 7 Message from the President ................................................. 10 2018-19: Looking Back ....................................................... 11 Highlights of the Year........................................................... 15 Hospital Wing ...................................................................... 33 Biomedical Technology Wing .............................................. 92 Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies .......... 155 Division of Academic Affairs ............................................... 162 Publications .......................................................................... 168 Research Projects ................................................................. 184 Statutory Committees ........................................................ 201 Statement of Accounts ........................................................ 213 History The origin of the Institute dates back to 1973 when the Royal Family of Travancore gifted a multi-storey building for the people and Government of Kerala. Sri P N Haksar, the then Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, inaugurated the Sree Chitra Tirunal Medical Centre in 1976, when patient services including inpatient treatment got under way. The Biomedical Technology Wing followed soon at the Satelmond Palace, a gift from the Royal Family, located 11 km away from the Hospital Wing. The concept of amalgamating medical sciences and technology within a single institutional framework was regarded sufficiently important by the Government of India to declare the Centre an Institute of National Importance under the Department of Science and Technology by an Act of Parliament in 1980, and name it as Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum. Dr Manmohan Singh, the then Hon’ble Finance Minister, Government of India, laid the foundation stone for the third dimension of the Institute, the Achutha Menon Center for Health Science Studies (AMCHSS), on June 15, 1992. AMCHSS was dedicated to the nation by Dr Murali Manohar Joshi, the then Hon’ble Minister of Science and Technology and Human Resource Development, Government of India, on January 30, 2000. Our Mission • Promote research and development in biomedical engineering and technology • Deliver high quality patient care in selected specialties and sub-specialties • Develop innovative postgraduate training programs in advanced medical specialties and biomedical engineering and technology • Participate in public health reforms through research, training and interventions Our Vision • Become a global leader in affordable medical devices development, high quality patient care and health science studies Message from the President I am deeply honoured to be associated with Sree Chitra and its forward trajectory, which is admirably in sync with a unique mandate of indisputable relevance to health care in contemporary India. As I transit from Missile Technology to Biomedical Technology and Human Health, my mind turns instinctively to those exquisite lines in Tennyson’s Ulysses: “I am a part of all that I have met/ Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough/ Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades/ Forever and forever when I move/ How dull it is to pause, to make an end/ To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!” As President of an institution that has relentlessly pursued its uncommon commitment to biomedical engineering and device development, it shall be my endeavour, over the coming years, not to “rust unburnished” but “to shine in use!” When, I peep into the history of the Institute, I am inclined to believe that successive generations have transformed Sree Chitra from an arduous dream into an adorable reality that holds out hope for the future of R & D relevant to health care. Apart from manifold, and often path-breaking, contributions over the years to the important domains of patient care and public health, the Institute is credited with the indigenous development of several biomedical technologies that have been transferred to industry and commercialized. Gratifyingly, the mandated engagement with medical device development continues with renewed dynamism here. The Technical Research Centre for Biomedical Devices, supported by the Department of Science and Technology, and the Technology Business Incubator reflect the Institute’s firm resolve to deliver on its pristine promises. The Institute has already sown the seeds of ambitious projects, including Perspective Plan 2030 and Medspark, which are bound to sprout in the not-too-distant future. All of these augur well for biomedical technology and health care in the country. The past year witnessed the launch of four major activities by Dr Harsh Vardhan, Hon’ble Union Minister for Science and Technology, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and Earth Sciences. With substantial support from the Government of India, through the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana and the Department of Science and Technology, a long-cherished desire, or dream as it were, of Sree Chitra and the people of the region is going to be fulfilled in the form of the Swasthya Suraksha Block. The impact of this invaluable addition on high quality super-specialty care and post-graduate training in cardiac and neurosciences assiduously provided by the Institute is hard to over-state. Further, the Combination Devices Block is expected to provide fillip to the biomedical device development programme at the Institute. The launch of the Regional Technical Resource Centre for Health Technology Assessment at the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies is as much a tacit recognition of the first rate work carried out at the Centre as an unmistakable harbinger of our impending leap in the realm of Public Health. The state-of-the-art Data Centre could not have been set up at a more appropriate time, and the Institute is grateful to the Ministry of Electronics and the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, for their munificent support in acquiring the facility. In the launch of these four ventures, we witness a commendable continuity of purpose that is built into the very fabric of this institution, a commitment to the core values that were spelt at the moment of its conception. I am impressed that the technological innovations at the Institute are strikingly in line with the ‘Make in India’ Mission, even as the training programmes for skill enhancement and digital advancement epitomize the ‘Skill India’ and ‘Digital India’ initiatives. I am also impressed that Sree Chitra has tenaciously preserved its distinctly eclectic culture, harnessing the unique skills and strengths of its talented workforce in the service of the nation. It is intensely gratifying to see biomedical scientists joining hands with clinicians to develop novel technologies with substantial public health relevance. The stream of innovations flowed uninterrupted in the past year as well, and the technologies launched included, among others, point-of- care devices for easy diagnosis. All of this is impressive by any reckoning. However, as we step into the future, it is imperative that we, as an organization committed to human health, continue to take stock of the state of health care in the country and examine the relevance of our institution in this context. With remarkable resilience, we in India have survived a spectrum of trials and tribulations, of gargantuan proportions, unleashed upon us from time to time, but none has been more perpetually challenging, often devastating, than the burden of disease. Despite commendable advances in the realm of clinical medicine, we continue to suffer the ravages of chronic non-communicable diseases and a host of emerging afflictions. The scourge has to be dealt with effectively, head-on. In this regard, we should address the main problems that beset optimal health care delivery in the country, cognizant of the fact that health is increasingly linked to our overall national development agenda. As per the estimates of The Global Health Workforce Alliance and WHO, India is among 57 countries at risk of severe crisis in terms of dearth of human resources for health. The country calls for greater availability of skilled professionals, especially in clinical super-specialties and sub- specialties, which is a sine qua non of health care in these times. Secondly, there is a pressing need for innovation in the domain of biomedical engineering and biomedical device development for health care delivery at an affordable cost. We should remember that about 75% of our needs is met through imports while the domestic industry predominantly manufactures low risk products. Thirdly, our institutions should