- President Droupadi Murmu addressed the first convocation of AIIMS Deoghar, urging focus on primary healthcare.
- She emphasized doctors should possess both strong clinical skills and compassionate communication.
- President Murmu called for AIIMS Deoghar to contribute to national health-related Sustainable Development Goals.
GG News Bureau
Deoghar, 31st July: President Droupadi Murmu on Friday graced the first convocation ceremony of AIIMS, Deoghar, where she emphasized the critical role of the institution and its graduating doctors in strengthening primary healthcare and fostering compassionate patient care.
In her address, the President stated that while AIIMS Deoghar primarily focuses on tertiary healthcare, it should actively provide “guidance and support in the field of primary healthcare,” which she identified as the “basis of universal health coverage.” She urged the institution’s doctors and students to visit Urban Primary Health Centres and Rural Community Health Centres to assist and urged them to make inclusive healthcare a personal principle.
Advising the graduating students, President Murmu noted that an education from AIIMS guarantees skilled doctors, but she stressed the importance of being “a good doctor, along with being a competent and skilled doctor.” She advised them to develop both a sharp clinical sense and sensitive communication skills, urging them to be “completely clinical in their diagnosis or surgery, but not be clinical in their behaviour. Be sympathetic in behaviour and give advice with sympathy.”
The President highlighted national efforts to minimize the burden of out-of-pocket health expenditures on citizens. She assigned AIIMS Deoghar, along with its doctors, an institutional and individual role in this effort. She advised all stakeholders to collectively list Sustainable Development Goals related to health and medicine, assess India and Jharkhand’s progress, and determine how the institute can contribute to achieving the remaining goals.
President Murmu concluded by stating that AIIMS institutions are vital in achieving India’s ambitious healthcare goals. She described medical institutions like AIIMS Deoghar, established to eliminate inequality in healthcare services, as “beacons spreading light in the darkness,” tasked not only with providing world-class specialist medical care at low cost but also acting as “change-agents of the healthcare ecosystem.”
