NHSC – National Healthcare Skills Conclave 2026 at Parul University: ICMR Deputy Director General Offers Support, Students Compete in Simulated Emergencies, and Six Healthcare Startups Pitch Their Innovations

Dr. Dharmeshkumar Lal, Scientist E and Deputy Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), served as Chief Guest. He announced that ICMR’s budget has increased to ₹4,000 crore per year (an increase of approximately ₹860 crore) and offered direct support to Parul University for health research. He suggested that Parul University should work toward establishing a Centre of Excellence, noting that the university has sufficient infrastructure, faculty, and technical expertise to qualify. He invited Parul University to approach ICMR for support in research methodology, research capacity building, and funding for evidence-based proposals.

This offer from India’s apex biomedical research body is significant. It positions Parul University as a potential ICMR research partner and opens pathways for students and faculty to participate in nationally funded health research projects.

Dr. Dharmeshkumar Lal, Scientist E and Deputy Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), served as Chief Guest. He announced that ICMR’s budget has increased to ₹4,000 crore per year (an increase of approximately ₹860 crore) and offered direct support to Parul University for health research. He suggested that Parul University should work toward establishing a Centre of Excellence, noting that the university has sufficient infrastructure, faculty, and technical expertise to qualify. He invited Parul University to approach ICMR for support in research methodology, research capacity building, and funding for evidence-based proposals.

This offer from India’s apex biomedical research body is significant. It positions Parul University as a potential ICMR research partner and opens pathways for students and faculty to participate in nationally funded health research projects.

Dr. Geetika Madan Patel shared a story from her own internship that defined the philosophy behind the conclave. She described the event as a baby that was conceptualised and has now taken a wonderful turn – combining all three integral components of academic excellence: research, innovation, and skills. As a first-day intern in the emergency department, a mother brought in an unconscious, non-breathing child. Despite being one of the brightest students theoretically – standing in the top 10, knowing every step of resuscitation, IV insertion, and intubation – Dr. Patel could not perform a single procedure because she had never done them with her hands. She called a resident doctor instead.

That gap – between theoretical knowledge and practical ability – is exactly what simulation-based education bridges. Whether you are an emergency professional, a dialysis technician, an operation theatre professional, or a hospital paramedic, correct skills acquisition before real patient contact is essential. She traced the evolution of healthcare innovation through vivid examples: glucose monitoring evolved from withdrawing blood every two hours and sending it to a lab, to point-of-care glucometers, to non-invasive CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) patches – transforming diabetes management, which she called one of the biggest healthcare challenges for India. She traced anaesthesia from first-generation manual machines (where doctors manually bagged patients) through second-generation infusion-and-screen machines, third-generation ventilator-combo machines, to current AI-enabled workstations that calibrate doses so precisely that patients do not receive even one ml of extra anaesthetic drug.

She noted that Parul University is part of more than 10 ICMR research projects focused on evidence-based and translational research that comes out of the lab and directly benefits the community. A student innovation – a portable ECG model – is being used at Parul Sevashram Hospital. She urged students to keep learning always, even as practitioners, because healthcare is a field innovating in fractions of seconds.

Two flagship competitions defined the conclave’s experiential core. The Skill Marathon (19 February) rotated 80+ participants through five clinical stations – BLS/CPR, suturing, IV/IM injections, catheterisation, and shock management – in 2.5-minute timed rotations with jury observation. The Simulation Premier League (20 February) required teams of six (two doctors + four nursing/paramedical) to manage simulated emergencies together, testing interprofessional collaboration, communication, and clinical decision-making under pressure.

Additional competitions included Transfusion Titans (blood component therapy, 18 February) and a Suturing and Bandaging Techniques competition (20 February). All competitions used real equipment in the simulation centre’s hospital-replica environments.

The NHSC 2026 startup interaction featured six ventures: Rehabveda (brain-controlled rehabilitation, Shark Tank India S5), Axamine.AI (AI-powered diagnostic imaging, piloting in 11 hospitals), Carelynx (digital healthcare platform with QR-based medical records), Drashtick (smart assistive stick for visually impaired, incubated at PIERC), Healthytrac (red-light therapy with 1,000+ patients treated), and Eternia (anonymous mental health support platform for students, incubated at PIERC).