30^th CONVOCATION of PGIMER, 3^rd 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.

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

30th Convocation

Dr. Manmohan Singh, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India while addressing the students and faculty.

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