International ENT meeting brings surgeons and training programmes to Mangaluru
MANGALURU: The fourth international conference of the Society of Endoscopic Otorhinolaryngologists (SEOCON 2026) will take place in Mangaluru from 20 to 23 August, organisers said on Tuesday. The event is being held jointly by the Departments of ENT, Head and Neck Surgery at Kasturba Medical College (KMC) and K. S. Hegde Medical Academy (KSHEMA), with sessions hosted at the Avatar Hotel and Convention Centre, Attavar.
The conference will be inaugurated at 7 pm on 21 August and is expected to attract about 400 delegates from across India and abroad. Organising president D. Deviprasad, Professor and Head, Department of ENT, KMC, and organising secretary Vadisha Bhat, Professor and Head, Department of ENT, KSHEMA, outlined the programme at a press briefing in Mangaluru on 18 August.
"The SEO is a working group fully governed, managed and operated by ETHENTS."
Organisers said SEOCON is committed to advancing endoscopic otorhinolaryngology through innovation, collaborative research and development of new surgical tools and techniques. The conference theme is "Endoscope to Microscope, ENTHNS, Innovation and Beyond" and will focus on improving surgical practice and patient outcomes in ENT subspecialties.
- Dates: 20–23 August; inauguration at 7 pm on 21 August.
- Venue: Avatar Hotel and Convention Centre, Attavar, Mangaluru.
- Organisers: Departments of ENT, Head and Neck Surgery, KMC and KSHEMA.
About 100 prominent national and international guest speakers will take part in a varied scientific programme. Sessions will include live demonstrations of surgery, orations, panel discussions, hands-on cadaveric dissections and thematic tracks covering multiple ENT sub-specialities.
The conference will cover areas including Otology, Endoscopic Ear Surgery, Neuro-Otology, Implant Otology, Skull Base Surgery, Allergy and Endoscopic Thyroid surgery, among others. A key draw is the presence of Milind V. Kirthane, an eminent ENT and cochlear implant surgeon from Mumbai, who will be the chief guest at the inaugural session. Kirthane is a Padma Shri and Dr B. C. Roy awardee and has, organisers said, performed over 3,000 cochlear implant surgeries and set up more than 70 cochlear implant centres across India for training ENT surgeons.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Expected delegates | About 400 |
| Guest speakers | Over 100 |
| Chief guest | Milind V. Kirthane |
| Host institutions | KMC and KSHEMA, Mangaluru |
Organisers emphasised the conference’s practical focus. The hands-on cadaveric dissections and demonstration surgeries are intended to provide practising ENT surgeons, trainees and speciality teams with direct exposure to evolving endoscopic and microscopic techniques.
Local medical education and hospital networks can expect direct benefits from the presence of national and international experts. The assembly of specialists and trainers is likely to bolster continuing medical education programmes for the region and strengthen referral networks between tertiary centres and district hospitals.
Beyond clinical exchange, the event may provide an economic boost to Mangaluru’s hospitality and transport sectors as delegates use local hotels and services. KMC and KSHEMA said they had coordinated logistics with the convention centre to accommodate the scale of the programme and to run multiple parallel sessions over the four days.
SEOCON’s focus on innovations in endoscopic and implant otology, skull base approaches and neuro-otology aligns with broader trends in tertiary-care ENT practice in Karnataka, where teaching hospitals and private centres have been increasing uptake of minimally invasive and implant-based solutions for hearing restoration and skull base pathologies.
Organisers urged local practitioners and postgraduate students to register early as spaces for hands-on workshops and cadaveric labs are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, they said.
