8th Convocation Day ceremony at PGIMER, Dr RML Hospital held

New Delhi: The Hon'ble Vice President of India, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu today presided over the 8th convocation ceremony of PGIMER and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, in presence of Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Smt Anupriya Patel, Ministers of State for Health and Family Welfare.

Addressing the participants, the Vice President of India stated that RML is one of the best medical institutions in the country serving people since last 75 years. The Vice President further stated that education and health are two pillars of a country and Swasth Bharat is 'Samruddha Bharat'. Shri Naidu also emphasized on the Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission and said that it will protect around 50 crore people (from about 10 crore families) from catastrophic healthcare spending. He also appreciated the Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) initiative of the Health Ministry that is drastically reducing the expenditure incurred by common patients on treatment of cancer and heart diseases.

In his address, the Vice President further stated that the government is committed to providing Universal Health Coverage to all. He further stated that there is lopsided supply of healthcare services in the country and urged other stakeholders like private players, NGOs, and civil society organizations to supplement the efforts of the government. He also stressed on the need for doctors to provide services in the rural areas.

Congratulating the students, Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare stated: "As you step into the brave new world of 21st Century to engage with the cutting edge of medical science, technology and research, do not forget the larger purpose of always working to improve the health of the poor, the needy and the underprivileged". The Union Health Minister further said that no patient should be denied treatment on account of being poor or belonging to lower strata of society.

Speaking at the function, Shri Nadda said that there is a tremendous crisis of skilled human resources in health sector at all level. "We have now planned for a rapid expansion of medical education in the country. Practice of medicine needs sound knowledge, analytical ability and specific skills in respective areas. It's a great challenge to produce high quality health care providers at all levels. We need the teachers and academicians to develop such human resources in health. In this regard, the country has a lot of expectation from all of you," Shri Nadda elaborated.

Highlighting the reforms initiated by the Ministry, Shri J P Nadda stated that the Government has increased the age of retirement of doctors to 65 and is setting up of more medical and nursing schools. He further said that the government is also multi-skilling doctors to overcome the shortage of specialists. Shri Nadda said that the introduction of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) would benefit students' fraternity across the country as they will not have to appear in multiple entrance exams and such an exam will lead to greater transparency, reduce the burden on prospective students, mitigate litigation in various courts of law with respect to the examination process and ensure better standards of Medical Education.

Shri Nadda further said that suitable amendments have also been carried out in the Graduate Medical Education Regulations and Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations for making common counseling for admission in Medical Colleges mandatory and existing medical colleges are being upgraded by setting up of Super Specialty Blocks in 70 such medical colleges in the entire country.

"We are expanding the network of our medical colleges in a big way by upgrading 58 district hospitals to medical colleges. 24 more new Medical Colleges have been announced in this year's budget. 20 State Cancer Institutes and 50 Tertiary Cancer Care Centers are also being set up. The government's vision is delivery of high quality tertiary care services to our citizens," Shri Nadda stated.

Degrees were awarded to the 116 students of which 91 were MD/MS students and 25 were DM/MCh super-specialty students. 9 Gold Medals were awarded to the students in the department of Cardiology (DM), Urology (MCh), Burn & Plastic Surgery (MCh), General Surgery (MS), Paediatric (MD), General Medicine (MD), Anaesthesiology (MD), Super Speciality Gold Medal Post Doctorate (MD/MCh) and Gynaecology (MS).

Dr. Promila Gupta, DGHS, and Dr. V.K. Tiwari, Director, PGIMER, Dr. RML Hospital along with the senior officers and faculty of the Institute were also present at the function.