The first Bombay Hospital institute of medical Sciences research day took place on the 22nd June, 2019 in the S P Jain auditorium of the Bombay Hospital. The program was organised with the aim of enhancing the academic interactions and research output of this prestigious medical institute. The institution is unique in the sense that it is the only institution in the private sector to have affiliation of the Maharashtra University of Medical studies and the privilege of training students in various specialties. The faculty of this institute is renowned and very experienced. The research day was designed to integrate the clinical and academic skills and to understand the issues and to develop a system of augmenting the academic outputs.

The program generated a lot of interest amongst the faculty members and students alike, who were present in large numbers.

There were three types of presentations in the symposium. Stalwarts like Dr Satyavan Sharma, Dr B S Singhal, Dr A L Kirplani, Dr S Jayaram, Dr Sadhana Desai and Dr P B Desai graced the occasion and expressed their thoughts. The thrust was on data generation, regular departmental teaching activities, rotation of students amongst faculty members, motivational lectures by renowned experts in the field, need for statistician and research assistants and the need for subspecialty exposure.

Presentations of departmental work, achievements, publications, awards and honours were briefly discussed by the respective departmental heads. Departments of Neurology (Dr Khadilkar), Nephrology (Dr Bichu), Radiology (Dr Talwar), Respiratory medicine (Dr Nene), Anaesthesiology (Dr Kulkarni), Neurosurgery (Dr Devpujari), General Surgery (Dr Adanthaya), Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics (Dr Chiniwala), Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Dr Suvarna Khadilkar) and Urology (Dr Oza). A wealth of information was presented by the speakers. Dr S V Khadilkar informed that in various specialties, BHIMS students have secured merit positions in the most recent MUHS examinations, which drew positive response. Dr S V Khadilkar presented on “How to read and write throughout your life” to generate further interest.

As can be seen from the photograph, luminaries from various departments participated in the lighting of the lamp of knowledge. Dr S V Khadilkar reiterated the need for enhancing the academic activities to reach greater heights. Dr R V Patil’s recent efforts in updating the institutional records with MUHS were applauded by all. He also informed that the MUHS now looks at BHIMS as an elite institute. In his speech Dr Patil extended his full cooperation to the academic and research activities. Attendees’ were informed about formation of the e-ethics committee which will be a big help in evaluating the proposals in terms of speed and accuracy.

Third category of presentations were the of research works and interesting materials presented by the younger colleagues and students from the departments of Neurosurgery, radiology, pathology, GI medicine, plastic surgery, general surgery, ophthalmology and orthopaedics. These were thought provoking and stimulating to the listeners.

The symposium ended with concluding remarks by Dr S V Khadilkar, with the promise of positive follow up on the above deliberations.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The simple inauguration was graced by Dr S V Khadilkar, Dr R V Patil and Dr Rajkumar Choudhary, Dr Devpujari, Dr Satyavan Sharma, Dr Kalyan Ayyer and Dr P B Desai.