Summary of the 5th Congress of the Cuban Bioengineering Society, Habana 2003

Between June 10th and 13th 2003 the 5th Congress of the Cuban Bioengineering Society Habana 2003 was held at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana, Cuba. The first two days were dedicated to pre-congress activities: courses and a modular workshop.

The attendance was: 251 delegates of 3 countries: Cuba (249 attendees), Guatemala (1) and Venezuela (1), with colleagues from 47 different Cuban institutions participating.

Eleven courses were lectured and a modular Workshop was held on current trends on medical device design and technology management in hospitals. The courses had 256 attendees and 105 colleagues participated in at least one of them. Ten lecturers, all of them with a relevant CV and outstanding experience in their fields were in charge of the lectures.

During the Congress, three additional lectures took place:

  1. "Public Health and the health sector", Silvia Martínez Calvo, PhD, Cuba.
  2. "Research and publication: relevance for Latin-America. "What to publish and where to publish?" Federico Genolet, PhD, Venezuela.
  3. "Up to date trends in biomaterials", Rubén Álvarez Brito, PhD, Cuba.

Four Round Tables were held:

  1. New trends in medical device maintenance.
  2. Cuban experience in medical device technical services abroad.
  3. State-of-the-art in medical device development in Cuba.
  4. Educational aspects in Biomedical Engineering.

The Round Tables made recommendations to the society officials aimed towards a greater number of scientific and technical meetings and activities between congresses.

The Scientific Committee approved 116 papers (55 for oral presentations and 61 posters). All of them had an importance attendance and high participation.

The topics covered by the papers in the Congress were:

  • Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks
  • Assessment of Health Care Technologies
  • Bioelectromagnetism
  • Bioimpedance
  • Biomaterials and Biosensors
  • Clinical Engineering
  • Computer Science and Medical Informatics
  • Educational Aspects in Biomedicine
  • Image Processing
  • Instrumentation for Monitoring and Diagnostic
  • Microelectronics Applied to Medicine
  • Modelling and Simulation
  • Optics and Laser in Medicine
  • Prosthesis and Artificial Organs
  • Quality Assurance
  • Radiobiology and Radiotherapy
  • Rehabilitation Engineering
  • Signal Processing

Habana 2003 was sponsored by 5 national institutions: TecnoLab, Combiomed, CCEEM, Grupo de Maquinaria General and Sirce. In addition, four commercial representations helped sponsor the event. They were: Siemens AG, Roche Diagnostics, AGEM S.A. and Estudios de Mercados y Suministros (EMS).

The Congress was also supported by the National Research for Scientific Centre, TECE S.A., Medix i.c.s.a., Bioengineering Centre from ISPJAE, Alimentos Río Zaza, Los Portales S.A. and Infomed.

A commission selected the three winners of the Society Biannual Contest. The results were:

1st place: A Cuban biphasic external defibrillator: fundamental characteristics.
      Main author: José Folgueras Méndez, coauthors: A. Portela, A. Milanés, O. Colorado, M. Gómez, M.J. Aguilar, V. Martínez
2nd place: Long term ECG recording system.
      Main author: Daniel Jiménez, coauthors: T. Moreno, A.R. Rodríguez, G. Montes de Oca, O. Vargas, R. Milán, R. Padrón, R. González, J. Rodríguez, J. Antonio, Y. Fayad, M. Quiñones, E. Rivas, R. Zayas, M. Jordan, M. Rivero
3rd place: Functional Brain Mapping in the study of Parkinson Disease.
      Main author: Rafael Rodríguez Rojas, coauthors: R. Palmero, R. Macías, L. Álvarez, M. Carballo

During the Congress two artistic performances took place: one by the awarded guitar player: Rosa Matos and the other by the humoristic group: Humoris Causa.

The attendees expressed their support to the Cuban Revolution and their disagreement with the position of the European Community against Cuba that affects the scientific and technical interchange among professionals of our countries.

A General Assembly was celebrated where the nominations for the new board were started. The election process will be finished at the beginning of 2004. A discussion about the directive job and the new challenges of the Society took place.

The Congress and the Assembly ratified the importance of Biomedical Engineering in Cuba and the need for continuous education for the practitioner's development. In this field, the Society must play an important role. At the same time, the Society has to continue working towards social recognition for professionals and technicians who work in this main field, so that the health of the Cuban people can be safeguarded.