Proceedings of 31st Annual Convocation

Dr.Ram Baran Yadav, Hon’ble President of Republic of Nepal was the Chief Guest at the 31st Convocation of PGIMER today.  While speaking to the new degree holders and faculty of PGI Dr.Yadav became nostalgic about the good old days he spent in the Institute.  It was a homecoming for the Hon’ble President of Nepal as his son and daughter-in-law had also been alumni of PGIMER.  Dr.Yadav shared his memories with the audience in the form of many anecdotes. Dr.Yadav is an alumnus of the Institute and was awarded a degree in Internal Medicine in 1985.  He paid rich tributes to Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, former Prime Minister of India, S. Partap Singh Kairon, the then Chief Minister of Punjab who conceived the City Beautiful and also PGIMER.The Convocation was presided over by the Hon’ble Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also President of PGIMER.  Sh. Azad congratulated the 330 students who were being bestowed the degrees and requested them to remember and preach the mission of PGI that is service to the community, care to the needy and research for good of all. He said, “We are all looking upto institutions like PGi Chandigarh and AIIMS to take the lead in building this much needed inter-disciplinary connectivity.  This is not to suggest that we move away from training doctors as we have been doing so far.  We need many more doctors than we are currently producing and we need to upscale our capacities of producing human resources for health.  In the 11th Plan we are running a centrally sponsored scheme of Rs.1350 crore for strengthening and upgradation of medical colleges.  This effort is expected to add about 4000 PG medical seats to the existing pool.  We are also expecting an increase of 10000 post graduate seats in two years time across the country by changing various norms that determine student intake into medical courses.  269 new nursing colleges, one more National Institute of Paramedical Sciences and nine regional institutes are also being established.  But these are conventional strategies and we need to look at more dynamic options  Virtual classrooms using information technology for distance learning, evening shifts for optimizing infrastructure, need to be seriously considered. 

I leave these thoughts with you with the assurance that resources would not a constraint for out of the box ideas.  You are all aware of my govt.’s determination to raise public sector spending on health care to 2-3% from the current 1.1%.  This was below 1% at the start of the 11th Plan.  The investments made in the health sector primarily through the National Rural Health Mission have started showing results.  As per recent data given by the Registrar General of India, infant mortality rate (IMR) has come down from 58 per 1000 live births in 2005 to 50 per 1000 live births in 2009.  This could not have been possible without improvement in the availability of human resources, and infrastructure in our primary health care system. 

Encouraged by this success we have now launched the Integrated National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular disease and Stroke as also the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly.  These programmes have been extended to 100 districts across 21 States.  All individuals over 30 years of age as also pregnant women will be screened for diabetes & hypertension etc. For Cancer control while focus would be on early detection, each district would be provided funds upto rupees one crore for chemotherapy of 100 persons. Government is aware that treatment of these diseases can drive entire households into penury.  Successful implementation of these programmes will have a salutary impact on the management of these diseases. 

PGI Chandigarh can provide technical oversight to the programmes at least in this part of the country.  In this manner the skill and expertise developed in the Institute could seamlessly be transplanted at the grass root level.”

Earlier in his address Prof. K.K.Talwar, The Former Director PGI said, “The outstanding quality of the PGI’s training programmes for medical and paramedical courses is known throughout the world. The faculty has contributed significantly not only to the development of clinical facilities but also in creating new training programmes and carrying out state-of-the-art medical research. More than 650 research papers were published in journals of high repute last year.

Training programmes have been initiated in upcoming specialties like Pediatric Hemato-Oncology, Pediatric Critical Care, Pediatric Neurology, Neuro-Radiology and Cardiac Anaesthesia. In view of the severe shortage of medical physicists, M.Sc. (Medical Physicist) in Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine was started few years back in collaboration with the Panjab University, Chandigarh with the approval of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. The Stem Cell Research Facility is fully functioning and newer specialties like facilities of Translational and Regenerative Medicine and Nanotechnology are being initiated to strengthen research. Telemedicine facility was started in 2005 with inauguration of the Punjab-PGI Tele-link by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji. Now PGI is connected to the adjoining states and provides tele-education and telemedicine facilities to various hospitals around the region. PGI is the first medical centre in the country to link with Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka as a part of the SAARC Telemedicine Network.  On 21st January, 2011 the tele-link with Nepal was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Nepal.   

Our present plan is to modernize the Research Blocks and the Nehru Hospital to add another 250 bedded block with state-of-the-art operation theatres aimed at services for cancer, neuro-surgery, multi-organ transplant and other emerging specialties. We are deeply grateful to our Hon’ble Minister and President of the Institute for sanctioning Rs. 515 crore for the planned budget and another Rs. 370 crore for the OBC Expansion Scheme to strengthen and modernize our existing facilities.  

PGI has always had a close association with Nepal and its people. Scholars and students have always considered PGI as their favored destination for academic pursuits. About 110 students have completed their MD/MS from this Institute. Many students have received D.M./M.Ch. in various super-specialties. More than 120 candidates have completed M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in various medical and paramedical specialties and in Nursing.”

Today, 330 students were awarded degrees. During the Convocation PhD was awarded to 21 students; DM (medical super-specialties) of Cardiology, Clinical Pharmacology Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Pulmonary Medicine, Nephrology, Neurology & Neonatology to 33; MCh (surgical super-specialties) of  Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Plastic Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Surgical Gastroenterology, Urology to 24; MD in the medical specialities of Anaesthesia, Biochemistry, Community Medicine, Dermatology, Medicine, Microbiology, Nuclear Medicine, Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Pathology, Psychiatry, Pharmacology, Radiodiagnosis, Radiotherapy & Transfusion Medicine to 137; MS in the surgical specialities of Otorhinolaryngology, orthopaedic surgery, ophthalmology & surgery to 40; MHA (Master of Hospital Administration) to 4; MPH (Master of Public Health) to 8; MSc in Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Medical Biotechnology, Speech & Hearing & Medical Technology to 23 and  BSc. in para-medical courses to 40.  

The Chief Guest awarded Gold, Silver & Bronze Medals to the students for outstanding research and academic excellence. These include Major General Amir Chand Gold Medal to Dr. Yogesh R.Barapatre (in MD/MS/DM/M.Ch category) and Dr. Nitin Mahajan (in PhD category); V.K.Saini Gold Medal to Dr. Nitin Mahajan; R. Nath Gold Medal  in the field of Biomedical Sciences to Dr. Maryada Sharma;  Aikat Memorial Gold Medal to Ms.Ninjit Dhanota; Silver Medals for Research Work to Dr.Sai Sunil Kishore M. and Ms.Aanchal Mehrotra; Bronze Medals for Research Work to Dr. Kali Prasad Adhikari and Ms.Nirupama Chandel.  Twenty-five students of various medical and paramedical courses were awarded Silver Medals and fifteen students Bronze Medals for academic excellence.    

H.E. Shiv Raj Patil, Administrator UT & Governor Punjab, H.E. Sh.Jagannath Pahadia, Governor of Haryana, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Haryana, Sh. Sh.Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Hon’ble Ministers from Punjab and Haryana Prof. Lakshmi Kanta Chawla, Smt. Kiran Chaudhry, & former Director General, ICMR, former Directors, Deans, Emeritus Professors were present on the occasion.Prof. Vinay Sakhuja, Dean PGI thanked all the dignitaries for their graceful presence and congratulated the students for their achievements. Prof. Amod Gupta, Chairman, Institute Function Committee and Sub-Dean conducted the function.

31st Convocation

Dr.Ram Baran Yadav, Hon’ble President of Republic of Nepal was the Chief Guest at the 31st Convocation of PGIMER

Pharmacovigilance program

One day training of Technical Associates under pharma- covigilance program of India (PvPI) was organized

Nurses Week Celebrated

Nurses from all over the world celebrate the birth anniversary of Ms. Florence Nightingale..

Y- Stent Surgery

The Department of Pulmonary Medicine added another feather to its cap when the interventional pulmonology..

Prestigious Australion Award

Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Head of PGI School of Public Health, Chandigarh has been selected by the Government of Australia..