Journalism of Courage
Medical education is costly,but do not be in a hurry to recover the money,urged President Pratibha Patil to students passing out of medical facilities of the D Y Patil University.
She was chief guest at the convocation of the university on Saturday. On the occasion,honorary D.Litt was awarded to Montek Singh Ahluwalia,deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and Mohan Dharia,former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
Doctors play an important role in society and for well-being of the nation. I urge you (the passing students) to spend some years of your professional life working in rural areas. Treat patients in surrounding villages and use your time in college to acquire what in Upanishads were called tejas and vivek. We must encourage research in institutes of higher learning. This is more important in our country where a large number of people want to avail medical facilities. Health system should become affordable and focus on prevention and early diagnosis, said Patil.
Referring to a Sanskrit verse she further added,This (the verse) reminds us of the traditional medicine,which is our heritage and which we must preserve,but at the same time,we must remember that the medical field is wide open and the institutes must keep in touch with advances in the field. They must update their curriculum accordingly.
Earlier,after being conferred the honorary D.Litt,Ahluwalia said,In the health sector,we lag in the infrastructure and human resources. While the infrastructure is easier to develop,the second aspect,human resources,is not an easy challenge.
Also present on the occasion were D Y Patil,the governor of Tripura,K Sankaranarayanan,the Governor of Maharashtra and Devisingh Shekhawat among others.
