GMC taps alumni to share expertise on blood disorders

PANAJI: Over 270 doctors and allied medical staff attended a first-of-its-kind joint medical symposium to update healthcare providers on how to approach, investigate, and manage different kinds of anemias.
The symposium — organised by Goa Medical College, the Indian Society of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, GMC students’ association, Goa association of resident doctors (GARD), and the IMA medical students’ network — focussed on research ideas in hematology, challenges in management of thrombocytopenia, and approaches to management of anaemia.
“The symposium was organised to understand the challenges faced in management of low platelet counts (thrombocytopenia) in dengue, ITP, critical conditions, and blood cancers, and to learn about various research studies from top experts of Tata Memorial Hospital to stimulate and ignite young medicos at GMC,” the symposium’s coordinator, Dr Jagadish Cacodkar, told TOI.
The speakers at the symposium were GMC alumni who now work in hospitals across the country — Dr Reena Nair of Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata, KIMS Kingsway Hospital’s Dr Riya Ballikar, and CMC-Vellore’s Dr Yamuna Naik.
Ballikar and GARD president Dr Frazer Rodrigues conducted a hematology quiz for postgraduate students.
Cacodkar said GMC intends to tap its alumni, so that they can share expertise with medical students. “GMC must harness the invaluable resources of such experienced alumni towards the public interest,” said Cacodkar.