‘Indian astronauts can fight space blues with yoga’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:06.03.2020

Yoga could be an integral part of the daily routine of the Indian astronaut who is sent into the space in the next two or three years, Indian Space Research Organization former chairman K Kasturirangan has said.

With India’s plans for human space mission — Gaganyaan — a new dimension needs to be created with respect to medical education that involves understanding and dealing with physiological and psychological effects on human beings in space and to adopt the necessary counter measure, he said to young doctors, nurses and paramedics at the 32nd annual convocation of the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University here. The convocation was declared open by the chancellor and TN governor Banwarilal Purohit.

The convocation was held on the university campus for the first time. Students, graduates, doctors, paramedics and professors attended the event.

Kasturirangan said in space human beings face micro-gravity conditions that affect flow of body fluids and body mass. Although the cardiovascular system adapts to the new environment, an astronaut in space experiences 3.2% of average bone loss after nearly 10 days of weightlessness, primarily through the excessive secretion of calcium and phosphorus in urine. The loss of calcium in urine may produce stones in the bladder which may cause severe pain. Counter measures include onboard exercise with treadmill and ergometer, he said. India’s spaceman Rakesh Sharma, he said, found benefits in yoga to beat the blues in space. “We need to create specialized courses as well as institutions to impart education with necessary simulation and training infrastructure for our future astronauts,” he said.

Kasturirangan gave away the degrees and awards to 724 students, including 328 medical, 84 dental, 58 AYUSH and 254 in allied health services. In addition 16,866 were given the degrees in absentia. The university will give away 130 endowment medals and cash awards to students. There are 62 endowment gold medals, 8 endowment silver medals and 60 university medals.

He urged young graduates to combine ancient Indian wisdom with modern science.

Earlier, BARC former chairman R Chidambaram spoke about artificial intelliegence in medicine. A match between debating campion Harish Natrajan and a female voice AI system nicknamed Ms Debater proved how the machine can never win against human without emotional intelligence.

“We have robotic surgery in India, but I don’t expect to see an independent doctor robot to emerge in the foreseeable future,” he said. He, however, said machines had a large role to play in the medical field.

Governor Banwarilal Purohit confers a degree on a student of MGR Medical University during the 32nd convocation here on Thursday as former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan looks on