‘Need to start medical colleges in rural areas’

Union minister for health, Ghulam Nabi Azad, on Saturday announced the Centre’s intention to start medical colleges in rural areas.

Azad, who was speaking at the valedictory ceremony of the XIII national seminar on ‘Hospital and health care management and medico-legal systems’, organised by the Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS), highlighted the fact that India suffered from an acute shortage of doctors and other health care professionals. “We need medical colleges especially in rural and backward areas to fill this gap,” Azad said.

Azad also emphasised the need to reduce the cost of the health care delivery system. He complimented the efforts of Symbiosis, which focused on the needs of the common man. Azad said that the health care system needed to be human centric rather than patient centric.

Besides Azad, vice-chancellor, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (Nashik), Dr Arun Jamkar and SB Mujumdar, president
and founder-director, Symbiosis, graced the occasion with their
presence. Mujumdar, in his speech spoke about the synergy between education and health and highlighted the effect of changing lifestyle on the young population.

He announced the institution of a chair in the name of cartoonist RK Laxman for media studies at Symbiosis, as a token of respect for his work. Dr Rajiv Yeravdekar, director, SIHS, said that Symbiosis would start a medical complex dedicated  to diabetes in the form of research training and education.