Manipal, August 22: About 800 Manipal University alumni from all over the world attended the First Global Manipal Alumni Health, Science and Technology Convention themed, “Networking Globally For The Future of Healthcare and Technology” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently. It was the biggest-ever gathering of the university’s alumni outside India. The event was organized by the Manipal Alumni Association of Malaysia (MAAM) and Malaysia’s Minister of Health, Datuk Seri Dr. S. Subramaniam was the chief guest.

The two- day programme had pre and post conference workshops, symposiums, special lectures and social events. “We are indeed thrilled at the response” says Dr. Philip George, the event’s Organising Chairman. “It was a great feeling to reunite with our batch-mates. We even had alumni from 61 years ago when our university was first established.”

It was a rare moment indeed as fresh graduates and students had the opportunity to meet with their seniors. “It is not often that we have the opportunity to meet our seniors who are some of the top minds in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and engineering,” said Dr. Philip. “Some of the 100 over speakers at the convention are opinion leaders in their fields of practice either at national, regional or at international level”.

Professor Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran (President of FIGO -International Federation of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and President of the British Medical Association), Dr. Unni Krishnan Karunakara (Past President, Médecins Sans Frontières International, Geneva, Switzerland), Dr.Shreedhar Potarazu (CEO Vital Springs, USA) and Dr. K. Ramnarayan (Vice Chancellor, Manipal University, India) were among the key speakers at the convention.

“The event is aimed at bringing together alumni to network and explore global or regional collaborations. We have 100,000 alumni in 35 countries around the world. There are endless opportunities to work together in closer cooperation in sharing knowledge and experience and the latest developments in our fields of practice” Says Dr. Philip.

The newly elected President of MAAM, Dr. Arun Kumar, announced that the Second Manipal Alumni Health, Science and Technology Convention will be held in Bangalore in 2017 but in the meantime, MAAM will be organizing smaller events on a National scale every year.

The convention culminated with a gala night where MAAM presented to Datuk Dr. Ramdas M. Pai, Chancellor, Manipal University an appreciation gift to honour the University’s contribution to education. Outgoing President Dr. Nirmal Singh thanked the organizing committee and the scientific committee for their hard work in putting together the Convention.