Swiss Congress’s wide-ranging themes

‘Modular built hybrid operating rooms and endoscopy units’; ‘Globally proven solutions to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions while improving performance’; ‘Planning, set-up, and engineering facility management, in the lifecyle of the hospital’, and ‘Engineers for hospitals – why we need more engineers in medicine’. Hosted by Ingenieur Hospital Schweiz (IHS), the Congress will open with the IHS General Assembly on the morning of 10 April, with the first full conference address, ‘Challenges in healthcare – consequences for infrastructure and costs’, given by Dr Willy Oggier, a health economist and copublisher of a book entitled Gesundheitswesen Schweiz im Umbruch (Revolution in Swiss Healthcare), from 2.00-2.30 pm. Dr Oggier’s presentation will be followed by an address entitled How to cope with the winds of life, by Dr Bertrand Piccard (pictured), who, in 1999 (with Englishman, Brian Jones), undertook the first ever non-stop balloon flight around the world. Dr Piccard is a psychiatrist, aeronaut, internationally renowned public speaker, president of the ‘Winds of Hope’ humanitarian foundation, and Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations. Also part of the first-day’s programme will be a presentation on ‘CO2 research, climate change, and climate protection’ by Thomas Stocker, a professor at the Institute of Physics at the University of Bern, where he is head of the Department for Climate and Environmental Physics. Among the many other presentations over the event’s three days will be a look at How hospitals can react to rising costs, by Eduard Frosch of ÖKVT; an address on Optimisation of cooling systems, by Frank Montag, of Johnson Controls, and a presentation on Mapping patient journeys and optimising hospital designs for people flow, by Shrikant Sharma of Buro Happold. Approximately 350 international delegates are expected to attend the Congress, which will also incorporate a 1,500 m2 exhibition, and a varied social event programme. For more details, and to register, visit: www.eche2013.ch, T: +41 61 733 01 28, or email: ihs-gs@ihs.ch