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30th CONVOCATION of PGIMER, 3rd November 2009
Speaking on the occasion of 30th Annual Convocation of PGIMER, the Prime
Minister reminded the students that they were privileged to have received
their education in a prestigious institute like PGIMER. He urged them to
believe that they were capable of doing much more than just the ordinary
and warned them against accepting the status quo. Dr Manmohan Singh
reminded the audience of the vision of the first Prime Minister, Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru and the first Chief Minister of Punjab, Sardar Partap
Singh Kairon that led to the formation of PGI. He recollected his personal
memories of the 3 great stalwarts of PGI in the early years- Dr Tulsi Das,
Dr Santokh Singh Anand and Dr P N Chhuttani. The Prime Minister was happy
to know that the Tele-medicine initiative which he had inaugurated during
his last visit was rendering yeoman service to the region. He remarked
that despite the impressive improvement in many health indicators over the
last decade, he was not satisfied because the improvement had been slower
than what was required, especially in comparison to countries in
South-East Asia. The Prime said that the current expenditure on health in
India was 1% of the GDP but it was his government’s endeavour to raise
that to 2-3% of the GDP.
Earlier the Honourable Union Minister of Health, Shri Gulam Nabi Azad
complimented the diligence and skill of the faculty of PGIMER. He said
that it is not for nothing that people living in this region say that if
one’s disease could not get diagnosed and treated in PGI, probably no one
else could have done so. Emphasizing on the concept of inclusive
development, he informed that 6 lacs ASHA’s had been appointed under the
NRHM. A web-based system for overseeing the NRHM program had been launched
on 14th September. He said that 8 new AIIMS are being built and 19
existing colleges upgraded. He mentioned that the existing requirement of
faculty:student ratio for postgraduate medical training of 1:1 is being
relaxed to 1:2 to allow more number of postgraduate seats. He felt this
would enhance the number of seats by 4000 countrywide.
Earlier Prof. KK Talwar, Director, PGI informed the audience about the
achievements of PGI. “The expansion of the Institute in the last four
decades has been spectacular. From an initial 230 beds, we have now over
1600 beds and with the new centres added, we will have over 1800 beds.
Some disciplines have been upgraded with the advent of the Advanced
Paediatrics Centre, the Eye Centre, the School of Public Health , the Bone
Marrow Transplant Unit and the Advanced Cardiac Centre. For the basic
research, a stem cell culture facility, a new air conditioned animal house
and the Clinical Pharmacological Unit have been established.
Sir, during your last visit to PGIMER in 2005, I had mentioned some of our
immediate requirements like PETScan, Gamma Knife, the Burns Unit, ICUs for
specialized areas and the upgradation of imaging facilities. With the
generous gift of your special grant of around 100 crore given in 2007, all
these facilities are now established and functional in the service of the
people”, he said while addresssing the chief guest.
Prof KK Talwar declared the Convocation open, with the permission of the
chair. The degree awardees were presented by the Academic Dean of the
Institute, Prof Vinay Sakhuja, to the President of the Institute, Shri
Ghulam Nabi Azad. 361 students received their degrees in this Convocation.
These degrees include 25 PhD’s, 36 DM (medical super-specialties), 27 MCh
(surgical super-specialties), 140 MD, 54 MS, 3 MHA (Master of Hospital
Administration), 9 MPH (Master of Public Health), 11 MSc, 14 MLT (medical
laboratory technology) and 42 in para-medical courses.
Several Gold Medals were awarded by the Honorable Prime Minister for
outstanding research work done in 2008. These included the Kataria
Memorial Gold Medal for being the Best Postgraduate Student of the Year to
Dr. Patil Vijay Maruti, the Major General Amir Chand Gold Medal for the
Best Research Work to Dr. Sourabh Dutta, the R. Nath Gold Medal in
Biomedical Sciences to Dr. Vijay Kumar, and the Aikat Memorial Gold Medal
to Mr. Rajendra Prasad Joshi.
The Honorable Prime Minister also inaugurated the Advanced Cardiac Centre
in the presence of the Honorable Union Minister of Health and Family
Welfare. Dr Manmohan Singh complimented PGIMER for bringing this important
centre to fruition. The Advanced Cardiac Centre is a spacious,
state-of-art, 200-bedded facility meant exclusively for heart ailments. It
will house cardiology, cardio-thoracic surgery, cardiac anesthesia,
cardiac radiology, laboratory facilities and support services, all under
one roof. It has 3 cath labs, 4 ultra-modern modular operation theatres,
one emergency operation theatre, two 23- bedded ICUs with two 5-bedded
pediatric ICUs, 22 private ward rooms and four 32-bedded general wards. It
is expected that 1000 open heart surgeries will be performed per year to
begin with and this will double in the next year.
The Auditorium was jam-packed with awardees of various degrees and medals,
their parents, the faculty, invited dignitaries, ex-Directors, Deans,
Heads of Departments and media persons. The Convocation lasted more than
an hour. It was a very solemn and dignified affair
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