Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said young doctors need to bear in mind the need to uphold ethics and treat every patient with compassion and empathy, irrespective of his or her financial background.
He also presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to Dr. A. K. Saraya, Dr. Samira Nundy, Dr. Kamal Buckshee and Dr. Gomathy Gopinath (in absence) on the occasion and also presented gold medals and certificates to 31 medical students who have achieved highest merit.
The Vice President further said medical education has undergone a paradigm shift from classroom-based didactic teaching to self-directed small group learning using principles of adult learning. The traditional methods of learning via imparting knowledge have evolved into competency-based learning to ensure that trainees acquire all essential skills before licensure.
"The curriculum in medical education needs to be constantly upgraded in tune with the latest advancements. I am sure that the curriculum developed at AIIMS can be adopted by other AIIMS like institutions and other medical colleges," Naidu added.
Acknowledging multidisciplinary teams as the need of the hour, the Vice President added, "Forging research coalitions with different department of AIIMS, as well as reaching out to other centres of excellence and researchers in the country should be given a priority. We have to make quality healthcare accessible and affordable."
There is also a significant urban-rural divide and we need to bridge this urban-rural divide in providing state-of-the-art healthcare services, said Naidu as he referred a report of PWC which points out "India has only 1.1 beds per 1000 population in India compared to the world average of 2.7. 70% of India's healthcare infrastructure is in the top 20 cities."
He further said, "We have a paradoxical situation when it comes to the health sector. On one hand, India is making rapid strides in medical tourism with people from other countries coming to our country for a range of treatments from liver transplant to knee replacement, while on the other hand the same treatment is out of reach for many Indians and we need to overcome this paradoxical situation by ensuring that treatment is affordable for all Indians."
However, he also claimed that an important step in this direction will be to promote manufacturing of state-of-the-art devices and equipment in the country, particularly under the 'Make in India' programme and such a move will not only save precious foreign exchange for us but also bring down the costs of the devices
The Vice President also asserted that only doctors can provide the healing touch to the ailing humanity and are the only people who can make a difference between life and death.
"Only you can add life to people's years. People admire actors but they adore doctors and doctors must treat their profession as a mission. I hope our Bharat will become Ayushman and every citizen will find the healthcare facilities more responsive, affordable ethically sound and qualitatively among the best in the world," he added.
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and the President of AIIMS, J.P. Nadda was also present on the occasion.
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