Make medicine affordable

Cancer specialist Dr Shanta asks young medical professionals at 17th convocation of Dr NTR University of Health Sciences Vijayawada: Noted cancer specialist and chairperson of Adayar Cancer Institute Dr V Shanta on Saturday called upon the young medical professionals to make medicine and medicare affordable and accessible to the people. Dr Shanta delivered the 17th convocation address of the Dr NTR University of Health Sciences here. She received the honorary doctorate of the university from Chancellor and Governor ESL Narasimhan. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Shanta said that technology had changed the medicine. It brought the era of curability and prevention. Communicable diseases were brought under control. The technology had helped a lot in the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. The young doctors should concentrate on simplifying treatment of these diseases, she said. Dr Shanta said increase in the number of specialities, super specialties, specialists and technicians had turned medicine expensive. There was an urgent need to cut down the cost and bring medicine in the reach of of the poor, she said.A Dr Shanta stressed on the need to update the curricula of medical and health science with the inclusion of aspects like leadership, behavioural science, communication skills, value-for-money, responsibilities of the physician and patient-doctor relationship. She regretted that the medical students were coming out of the campus without training on care-for-patients, which was more important than exposure to technology. The training should shape the young professionals into role models for a healthy society, she said. Dr Shanta expressed concern over the country's low literacy rate of 74.04 per cent. Out of these literates, just 12 per cent were pursuing higher education as against 50 per cent in the developed nations. The enrolment rate for professional education was 0.16 per cent in medicine, 0.32 per cent in engineering and 0.3 per cent in other courses, she informed. Referring to the quality health care, she said that health care included survival, mortality, preventable deaths, avoidable morbidities, quality of life, patient family satisfaction and other clinical issues. She quoted Martin Luther King as saying, "Of all inequalities in life, inequality in medicare is most inhuman.'' Dr Shanta said that medicine was not just profession but it was an art of science. It transcends national and international barriers, she said. Earlier, Narasimhan and Vice Chancellor IV Rao presented degrees and medals to the students. University registrar Dr S Babu Lal, principals of various medical and dental colleges and professors were present.

Post doctoral fellowship courses soon Vijayawada: The Dr NTR University of Health Sciences would introduce Post Doctoral Fellowship (PDF) courses from the 2013-14 academic year, said the university Vice Chancellor, Prof. I V Rao. Speaking at the 17th convocation of the university here on Saturday, Prof. Rao said that the Executive Council had already approved the proposal and the PDF would start in 10 subjects including Neonatology, Obstetric Medicine, Pain and Palliative Medicine and Critical Care. He said that the university would add more sub-specialities in the PDF training programme in the years to come. The Vice Chancellor further said that the university was also promoting continuing medical education and continuing dental education in every specialty in every college. He said that the continuing medical education would be extended to the Ayush, Nursing and Paramedical courses. The university also presented gold medals to the best outstanding students in various disciplines. The chancellor presented 46 gold medals, 16 silver medals and 15 prizes besides the degrees for the graduate and post graduate students.