Vice-President calls to include bio-ethics, humanities and communication as subjects in medicine

Mysuru:  “Society considers doctors as ‘God’ because they save lives. But we often read stories of exploitation, especially in private medical sector,” said Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, here yesterday. 

Delivering the convocation address at JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research (JSS AHER) at JSS Medical Institutions campus at Shivarathreeshwara Nagar here, the Vice-President said that a study by IIM, Ahmedabad, found that many C-Section deliveries were unnecessary and were driven mainly by financial motives. 

“It is also observed that quite often unnecessary tests and expensive medicines are prescribed putting more pressure on the pocket of poor patients. This is unacceptable. This is unethical and is not expected of a conscientious doctor,” he said.

He called upon the medical students to raise their voices and protest wherever they came across such malpractices and added that their heart should always be filled with empathy for those who were suffering.

Stating that it was important to always uphold highest standards of ethics and morals, Venkaiah Naidu said “Medical courses curriculum should include subjects like bio-ethics, humanities and communication skills.”

The Vice-President also expressed his concern over the increasing incidents of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the country. Quoting a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, Naidu said that nearly 61 per cent of deaths in India were due to non-communicable diseases and what was even more worrying was the early onset of lifestyle diseases in the country. 

To counter this prevalence of these diseases, he stressed on the need for adopting a healthy lifestyle and good dietary habits stating that unhealthy food and sedentary lifestyle were contributing to increase in NCDs. 

“Doctors, hospitals and medical colleges in both public and private sectors must launch a campaign to prevent non–communicable diseases by creating awareness among the people particularly among youngsters,” said the Vice-President. 

He drew attention to the ‘Fit India’ campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and appealed the youths to take this mission forward and make it a people’s movement to build a healthy and happy India and added “A nation with unhealthy population cannot progress.” 

Talking about the Indian health sector, Venkaiah Naidu said that India had achieved a significant progress since independence on various health indicators such as life expectancy, maternal mortality rate etc. 

However, he said that there was still a lot to be done on many fronts such as shortage of qualified doctor and resultant low doctor-patient ratio, high share of out-of-pocket expenditure, inadequate infrastructure in rural areas and inadequate preventive mechanisms.

Welcoming the decision of the Union Government to establish a medical college in every district, he mentioned that there was a need for setting up more medical colleges to address the shortage of healthcare professionals.

The Vice-President said that the newly constituted National Medical Commission (NMC) was a step in the right direction and expressed hope that the Commission would  provide for a medical education system that was inclusive, affordable and ensured availability of adequate and high quality medical professionals across the country.

Expressing concern at the gradual erosion of human touch in doctor-patient relationship, Venkaiah Naidu said “there should be an effective communication between the doctor and patient and latter should always be treated with empathy and humanism.”

The Vice-President also appreciated Suttur Mutt and JSS AHER for their services rendered to the society and called upon the youths to work for eradication of social evils such as casteism, gender and social discrimination from India. A total of 1,668 students, including 934 women and 734 men, were conferred Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in faculties of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Management Studies, Life Science and Biomedical Science. 

About 43 students shared 60 medals and awards for their academic excellence. 52 candidates received their Ph.D degrees and six candidates were awarded with super-specialty degrees (Doctorate of Medicine-DM and Magister Chirurgiae-M.Ch). Seven candidates were also awarded Master of Philosophy (Clinical Psychology) degrees. 

JSS AHER Registrar Dr. B. Manjunath and others were present during the programme.

Vice-President’s love for Kannada…

Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, who delivered his convocation address yesterday, greeted dignitaries on the stage in Kannada language and also wished students in the same language as well.

Speaking on the occasion, Naidu highlighted the importance of primary education in mother-tongue and added that Mahatma Gandhi was one of the greatest proponents of ‘mother tongue’ as a compulsory medium of instruction in primary education. 

“Learning English as a language is not an issue, but one must not have English mindset. There are more than 760 languages spoken in our country and there should not be a problem in learning any of these languages and respecting them.  But, one must continue to converse in their respective mother tongue,” he added.

Naidu also said that children must pursue primary education in their mother tongue as there was strong connection between languages and emotions.

Abrogation of Article 370 Venkaiah Naidu spoke in favour of abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. “Special privileges provided to Jammu and Kashmir were withdrawn only after it was approved by both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. While, the residents of the hill State have expressed their joy over the move, a  few people are involved in misleading the public on the issue,” he added. 

Naidu said that abrogation of Article 370 was an internal issue and neighbouring countries had no rights to involve themselves in the matter. 

Stating that economy growth in India was better than other countries, Naidu said that Indian economy growth was recorded at 6.1 per cent compared to 2.3 per cent in USA and 1.3 per cent in South Asian countries. “If the growth continued in the same rate, India is sure to become the third largest economy in the world,” he said.