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This address was delivered by
Professor Ramesh C. Deka, as Chief Guest at
7th Convocation of BPKIHS-University, Dharan, Nepal on 22nd Jan.2010. The Nepal PM, Hon’ble Shri Madhav Kumar Nepal was
on the Chair
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Your Excellency the Prime Minister of Nepal and Chancellor of
the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences University, Respected Minister for Health & Population
of Government of Nepal and Pro-Chancellor of the university Mr. Uma
Kant Chaudhury, the university Vice Chancellor Dr. P.C. Karmacharya, Senate Members, Faculty, Staff and Students, Ladies and Gentlemen and the members of the
Press,
I am delighted to be present here at Dharan on the occasion
of the 7th Convocation of this prestigious health sciences
university. Friends! I feel deeply
honoured by your kind invitation to me for this purpose today.
As you are aware, the B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences
( BPKIHS ) was established as an autonomous institute
of national importance by an Act of the
Nepalese Parliament in 1993 with financial and technical support from Indian Government. The India-
Nepal agreement for establishing this institute marked a new
chapter of friendship and cooperation between the two countries. This friendship
has since then got further strengthened.
By an amendment to the Act by the Nepalese Parliament in 1998,
the Institute was made an autonomous Health Sciences University with a mandate
to work towards developing and producing socially responsible health workforce for
meeting the health needs of the people of Nepal. I understand,
the University has been doing excellent work towards fulfilling its mandate. In
the process, it has not only provided quality health care to the people of
Nepal but also has contributed to the need-based, relevant research in this
part of the world. Needless to say that all this activity
adds to the overall empowerment of the nation and its people, particularly when
the cost of health care is increasing steadily everywhere and is going beyond
the reach of the common man. In fact, it is a big challenge for the
governments to achieve self-sufficiency in health-care sector.
Friends,
I commend the faculty, staff and the students for their
sincere and dedicated efforts to achieve the university’s goal of developing it
into a prestigious centre of excellence for health care and biomedical
research in this region.
Friends!
I am indeed very happy to see this happening here at Dharan. The
Indian people and its government, I can assure you, are very proud of your
achievements. We shall continue to provide support and cooperation in expanding
your activities, particularly in the area of developing super speciality and
bio-medical research.
Your Excellency and Friends!
Allow me to congratulate the successful candidates who are
receiving the degrees and honours today in this convocation. You are privileged
to be trained in one of the best medical institutions in this part of the world
and you should always carry the pride of your Alma Mater and prove to be the
best in whatever you are doing. I understand, the medical curricula was
meticulously crafted and designed by experts through a number of workshops and
seminars during the last 15 years. I am
sure, your training and skill shall take you to great heights and you can become
leaders in shaping the future for both Nepal and India.
Today we live in a knowledge age society and it is the
innovations based on knowledge, that bring about changes
for a better and healthy future. It is
the spirit of pursuing for new knowledge and skills and a commitment to serve
the society, that make one individual different from
another.
Friends!
It is you, as doctors and future health-care leaders, can
take the challenges of making a healthy society by providing a high quality
health care through ethical research and value based practice of medicine at an
affordable cost to the people. With advances in science and technology,
medicine has become a technology based practice. At times diagnostic tests are
very costly in modern medicine. So you have to make judicious application of
knowledge and experiences in using technology in various clinical situations in
your practice. Health care involves both social and cultural mix, and as
doctors you need to learn all these values to develop professionalism. You are
also expected to learn communication skills with your patients and their
relatives. It is these skills that make a difference in your profession and life.
Health science is a dynamic one and you need to learn every day to keep pace
with the advances for proper delivery of service. So you have to develop a
habit of life long learning.
As you are aware, the disease patterns are changing with life
style and environment changes as also with the increased human longevity. The
disease burden is increasing in different ways including new epidemics like
swine flu, bird flu etc. besides the chronic diseases and disorders such as
diabetes, cardiac and, thyroid conditions, and cancers.
Infections and viral diseases are another spectrum. We need
to learn to deal with all these diseases which are common in most developing
countries including Nepal. With increase in longevity, old age diseases will
need further attention. You have to train manpower and create facility in these
areas as well as keeping in mind the specific needs of your country and the
region.
There is a need to work for preventive and promotive health
care through enhancing public health and community health activities. BPKIHS university has also to create such human resources and also
to produce hospital management personnel for better management of our health
care delivery systems and hospitals. Innovations are to be achieved through
research in all spheres of health activities. The new knowledge is to be gained
not only through building partnership between laboratory groups and teams but
also through interaction with the field teams.
The policy makers and health administrators also need to
strike a balance between the tertiary care and public health infrastructures.
But one thing need to be remembered that the society
and the nation would always need more and more quality doctors. Therefore, the
planners need to plan accordingly.
The future generation of health workers need to be more
people-centred and to acquire multi-skills and knowledge in emerging fields. It
is a great challenge to bring down maternal and infant mortality rates. This is
to be achieved through education and awareness building, particularly among
women.
The aspects relating to patients’ safety and convenience in
health care situations and systems have to be given the utmost priority while
making hospitals and in creating health care delivery infrastructure. The students,
resident doctors and nurses are to be given special training on patient’s
safety. Ethical practice has to be ensured. This can be possible only if the
doctors, nurses, paramedics and all others involved in the process make a collective
effort in this direction.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
India and Nepal can do collaborative research in many areas in
BPKIHS university and AIIMS and we can share knowledge
and technical skills in dealing with many conditions prevailing in both the
countries. Both can provide new knowledge to the world from our unique
experience in treating several diseases, including tropical diseases.
Collaborative training programmes for postgraduate doctors
and skill enhancing for faculty through CMEs need to be developed through
mutual agreements between the two countries for enhancing our capability to
meet the future challenge and expectation of our people.
Young Friends!
The knowledge multiplies when shared with. You must become the agents of change wherever
you serve and leave a mark in the society and among the people you serve.
With knowledge, skill and confidence you can achieve miracles,
and collectively you can illuminate the society.
Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen!
It is indeed my pleasure to assure you on behalf of Indian
people and on my own behalf that we are proud of Nepal as a great friend and
neighbour. In keeping with the agreement, we shall extend all possible support
and cooperation to develop medical education and health care in Nepal.
Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the dignitaries, the distinguished guests, faculty and dear students,
I thank you all for your indulgence.
Professor Ramesh C.
Deka Director
& C.E.O. ALL INDIA INSTITUTE
OF MEDICAL SCIENCES Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, India |