No patient should be denied treatment on account of being poor or belonging to lower strata of society: JP Nadda
The Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu presided over the 8th convocation ceremony of PGIMER and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, in presence of JP Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Smt Anupriya Patel, Ministers of State for Health and Family Welfare.
Addressing the participants, the Vice President further said that education and health are two pillars of a country and Swasth Bharat is ‘Samruddha Bharat’. Naidu also emphasised on the 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, Naidu 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 organisations to supplement the efforts of the government. He also stressed on the need for doctors to provide services in the rural areas.
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).
Congratulating the students, Nadda said, “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, Nadda added 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,”
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,” Nadda stated.
Dr Promila Gupta, DGHS, and Dr VK Tiwari, Director, PGIMER, Dr RML Hospital along with the senior officers and faculty of the Institute were also present at the function.
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