Manipal, October 27: The Department of Respiratory Therapy, Manipal College of Allied Health Sciences along with Karnataka Association of Respiratory Therapy organized a National Workshop on Sleep Disordered Breathing on Sunday as a part of a week-long Respiratory Care Week celebrations.

The workshop was attended by respiratory therapists from across the country and was inaugurated by Dr.Vijay Kumar Rathnavelu, Consultant Pulmunologist, Hyderabad and Founder President of the Indian Association of Respiratory Therapy.

Inaugurating the workshop, Dr.Vijay Kumar mentioned that the "dream of respiratory care and competent professionals in India is now, a reality" and complimented the Manipal programme for being the best in the country.

He commented that respiratory therapists empowered with multiple skills of handling sophisticated instruments, contributing to the rehabilitation of sleep disordered breathing and sleep studies and management of mechanical ventilators in Intensive Care Units (ICU) have become indispensable members of the team in ICUs.

Welcoming the delegates, Dr. Rajashekhar, Dean MCOAHS traced the history of the Respiratory Therapy programme at Kasturba Hospital.

He also mentioned the good work done by Dr. Ramkumar, Prof and Head of Anesthesiology, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal for starting the graduate programme after his training stint in the US.

He also thanked Dr Anitha Shenoy, additional Prof of anesthesiology and head of respiratory therapy and Ms Saumy Johnson, Assistant Prof and coordinator of respiratory therapy for their contributions.

Dr Rajashekhar also mentioned that the department was the first in the country to offer a PG course in respiratory therapy. It also has the Online Certified Respiratory Therapist   programme in collaboration with California College of Health Science(Independence University), USA.

More than 45 graduates from the department and other centers have qualified as certified respiratory therapists making them eligible for positions in USA and other developed countries.

Dr. Ramkumar lauded the faculty and alumni for positioning the department among the various training programmes in the country. Dr.Anitha Shenoy gave an overview of the Respiratory care week and the Workshop. 

The in-house magazine, "INSPIRE" and an interactive CD of the workshop were released at the function.  

Our Correspondent