Sustainability means making healthcare accessible and affordable to all: SIMATS chancellor

True sustainability, said N.M. Veeraiyan, founder and chancellor, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS), lies in protecting human life, preserving human dignity, and making quality healthcare accessible and affordable for all. Dr. Veeraiyan was speaking at The Hindu’s Sustainability Dialogues 2026, presented by SIMATS, held on Tuesday (October 13, 2026).

Dr. Veeraiyan stressed the need for affordable healthcare and noted that the institute’s research goal was to ensure that it benefited society. He gave the example of an app developed by the institute that allowed patients to differentiate between gastric issues and a cardiac problem. He lauded the work of all the staff and students in ensuring that the institute was recognised as one of the top institutions in the country and in Tamil Nadu.

Native intelligence over AI

K. Ganapathy, honorary distinguished professor, IIM, Jammu, and distinguished professor, The T.N. Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, stressed the importance of ‘native intelligence’ over artificial intelligence (AI). He emphasised that while there were many advantages of AI, it had a number of limitations that should be understood. He said medical students today needed to be trained in statistics in great detail to be able to evaluate numbers. He also noted the problem of using Western data in algorithms that might not be applicable to India, and the fact that the socio-economic conditions of families needed to be considered in the context of treatment plans. He urged students to treat not just the lab investigation, the scan, the tumour, or even the patient alone – but the entire family.

Flipside of AI

Dhanraj Ganapathy, dean of sustainability, SIMATS, said that AI was a powerful tool, but that its flipside included biases, as it was dependent on what was fed into it, digital hallucinations, and the threats it could potentially pose, such as the creation of synthetic viruses. He highlighted the need for responsible behaviour by human beings, besides patience and compassion. He noted that we were entering an era of collaborative intelligence: the cold brilliance of AI needed to be superseded by a warm, empathetic human heart.

S. Sundaresan, senior vice president, advertisement, The Hindu, welcomed the gathering and said that the institution believed that meaningful dialogue on issues that impact society was an important part of media responsibility.

The Sustainability Dialogues were centred on the theme ‘Intelligent Healthcare for a Sustainable and Human-Centered Future’ and consisted of two panels – on AI-driven Healthcare: Innovation, Ethics, Accessibility and Sustainability; and Human Touch in the Age of AI: Preserving Compassion, Trust and Ethics in Modern Medicine.

Ashwani Kumar, vice chancellor, SIMATS, Sheeja S. Varghese, registrar, SIMATS and J. Kumutha, dean, Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, also participated.