The Hindu Business Line : Kalam urges medical fraternity to focus on rural people

Mangalore, Dec. 9 The former President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, asked the medical fraternity, including students, to focus on the treatment of the rural populace and poor and to use indigenous equipment in their work.

He said this in an interaction with medical professionals after inaugurating the Fr Muller Oncology Centre (a unit of Fr Muller Medical College Hospital) in Mangalore on Sunday.

During the course of the interaction, he asked the medical fraternity to take a five-point oath.

The first point said that medical profession is God’s mission. In the second, the professionals affirmed that they will always give part of their time in treating patients who can’t afford it.

While addressing the third point in the oath, he wanted to get assurance from the medical professionals. The point read like this: “We will treat at least 20 rural patients in a year at minimum cost by going to rural areas.” His immediate question for this was: “Will you?” The gathering said: “Yes”.

In the fourth point, he stressed the need for using indigenous equipment in their activities. “We will encourage the development of quality indigenous equipment and consumables by making use of them in all our operations, assuring the reliability of the product,” it said.

His oath to them ended with a note to medical professionals to remove the pain of the people and bring smile on their faces.

One of the medical students wanted to know Mr Kalam’s views on the medical students’ posting in rural areas. Mr Kalam said the PURA (providing urban amenities in rural areas) concept will be a solution for this.

Stating that 700 million people live in six lakh villages in the country, he said nearly 540 million youths in the country are below the age of 25 years. Many primary health centres in the country need people to man them.

Under PURA, first physical infrastructure should be provided for the development of the rural area. Then electronic infrastructure in the form of tele-medicine and e-governance should be provided. In the next phase, knowledge infrastructure should be provided for villagers that will help them improve their living condition.

More Stories on : Rural Development | Health | Karnataka

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Guanxi — the art of doing biz with China

SAIL’s SEZ among 32 proposals awaiting Board of Approval nod

Time-bound plan for Jayamkondam power project

Textile industry in TN incurs Rs 1,000 crore loss

Dr Reddy’s moots concept of neighbourhood schools

`Connect better with customers'

Hyderabad realty firm plans ‘Hub’

New Rail board norms — Broadbasing iron ore loading points

`Extend NIRD services to Cambodia'

Kalam urges medical fraternity to focus on rural people

Pharma vigilance panel to decide on controversial drugs

Year-end break sees more Indians packing up travel bags

Book claims British King ruled India till 1950