Bangladesh Medical Students' Scientific Congress 2018, popularly known as BIMSSCON 2018, took place on October 04 and 05 at Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS). After completing successful rounds of BIMSSCON in 2015 and 2016, BIMSSCON 2018 came with the unique theme of ‘Healthcare Without Borders’ organised by International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA) Bangladesh. IFMSA Bangladesh is a non-profit, non-political, voluntary medical students' organisation led by medical and dental students of Bangladesh. It works for the medical students of Bangladesh to make them more professional and skilled.
This year there attended 400 participants in the two-day long programme. It ended with 12 workshops, six career symposiums, oral and poster presentations, medical quizzes and anatomy drawing competition.
The opening ceremony was held on October 04 in which Professor Dr Kanak Kanti Barua, vice chancellor of BSMMU, was present as chief guest. In his opening speech, he stated, "I am appreciative to IFMSA Bangladesh for popularising the theme Healthcare Without Borders when our country, subcontinent and world need it the most." Professor Dr Feroze Kader and Dr Omar Faruqe were the special guests. On the first day of the programme, six workshops and video competitions were conducted.
On the second day, there were skill specific workshops, standing committee sessions and career sessions. Some of the mentionable workshops were basic surgical skills, management of eclampsia, universal health coverage, basic ultrasound, biomedical research, stress management among medical students, CT-scan and MRI, ECG, presentation skills, road to MRCP, PLAB, USMLE and many more. The two-day workshops and competitions were followed by closing ceremony in which the chief guest was Professor Dr ABM Abdullah, dean, Faculty of Medicine, BSMMU. Professor Abdullah said, "Once the idea of healthcare without borders is popularised, a revolution is bound to take place. As always, I support the activities of IFMSA Bangladesh and am proud to witness the first spark of change within our medical communities."
Special guests of the event were Dr Fatema Ashraf, Dr Iftekhar Rashid and Dr Abdun Noor Tushar. Professor Dr Fatema Ashraf, executive member of Public Health Foundation Bangladesh, expressed her support by stating, "As part of this congress the participants will attend a number of workshops designed to enhance their skills in medical science and will get to learn about different cultures in the congress."
Closing ceremony was followed by an enthusiastic cultural programme. The guests wished every success of BIMSSCON 2018 and IFMSA Bangladesh and conveyed the belief that this journey would go a long way and continue to empower medical students of Bangladesh and beyond.
The writer is a fourth year student at Mugda Medical College. He can be reached at aunabil.digarna@gmail.com