Triple anniversary at SPIHF-2024
On September 25, at the presentation venue of the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre, as part of the 12th St. Petersburg International Health Forum, a media scrum where representatives of the medical community spoke about achievements of the SPIHF, the situation with medicine in St. Petersburg and the role of artificial intelligence, took place.
Andrey Sarana, Director of SPbSU’s Medical Institute, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Professor at the Department of Postgraduate Education at St. Petersburg State University, noted that the SPIHF-2024 was marked by a triple anniversary. This year is marked with the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg State University, the 30th anniversary of the Faculty of Medicine and the Medical Institute as its successor, and the 10th anniversary of the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre.
«We have actually become a landmark point on the map of St. Petersburg. We are included in the new tourist geography of St. Petersburg, and tourists and residents of the city come to us. Over the past 10 years, we have held a total of 1.5 thousand different events. Last year alone, we held 200 events. Contracts signed within these walls amounted to 1.5 trillion rubles. We were visited by 15 million people in 10 years, and by 1 million people last year alone. The numbers tell the stories best», said Aleksandr Gorokhov, Deputy General Director for Commerce at EF-International.
«The St. Petersburg International Health Forum is the city’s great holiday!» says Andrey Sarana.
He stressed that at present, St. Petersburg is one of Russian cities that are the most highly staffed with medical personnel, although there are the shortage of secondary medical personnel and emergency doctors.
«I hope that by 2030, this deficit will have been completely overcome», added the professor.
However, no matter how much they talk today about introduction of artificial intelligence that actively penetrates into our lives, including medical technologies, it will never replace a doctor.
«Artificial intelligence systems are being introduced into medicine, they will do their job and help a lot, because there is no doctor who can view, relatively speaking, a million breast X-rays, but even the thought artificial intelligence to treat us should not arise: nothing will replace a doctor», concluded Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Doctor of Philology, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2023), Honored Worker of Higher Education and Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation (2010), Professor of the Department of General Linguistics at St. Petersburg State University, Head of the Laboratory of Cognitive Research and the Department of Problems of Convergence of Natural Sciences and Humanities at St. Petersburg State University.
