Port
Blair, Nov 20: The Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) Port Blair, World
Health Organisation (WHO) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) jointly
organised a two day World Congress on Leptospirosis at Netaji Subhash Chandra
Bose Auditorium of RMRC on Nov 18 & 19, 2019. The event was formally
inaugurated on Nov 18 in the conference hall of RMRC, Port Blair.
Addressing
the inaugural function, Dr. Nhu Nguyen Tran Minh, Team Leader at WHO Country
Office, India World Health Organization, said that the WHO is looking forward
to the documentation of the outcome of the congress that will be drafted at the
end of congress. He said that a special session was conducted to get
suggestions of delegates from various countries regarding the current burden of
leptospirosis in their respective countries and on management of leptospirosis.
Dr.
John Timony of Kentucky University, who chaired the inaugural function,
suggested that a document collating all the recommendations of the congress may
be brought out as "Port Blair Declarations on Leptospirosis".
Dr.
Marga Goris of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
told that the International Society will take appropriate action based on the
experiences on addressing the challenge of leptospirosis shared by the
delegates during the sessions.
Dr.
P. Vijayachari welcomed all the delegates and spoke on the genesis and
importance of the congress in the context of the global climate change and the
increasing frequency of extreme weather events.
Speaking
on the occasion, Dr. Shiv Shanker Singh, Senior Medical Consultant, G.B. Pant
Hospital said that the RMRC not only identified the cause of Andaman
Haemorrhagic Fever as Leptospira but has made tremendous contributions in
understanding various diseases such as Dengue, Chikungunya and pandemic
Influenza in the islands. The Congress will conclude today and will be followed
by an International Training Workshop on Laboratory Methods on Leptospirosis,
in which participants from several Southeast Asian countries are
participating.
Sixty
eight delegates are participating in the congress, which includes 23 delegates
are from 11 countries viz. USA, Brazil, The Netherlands, Switzerland, France,
Iran, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand and 16 national
experts.