President Murmu bats for tech in medical sector for people’s welfare in remote areas

Raipur, Oct 25 (PTI) President Droupadi Murmu on Friday said medical professionals have immense responsibilities to deliver as their decisions are often linked to saving lives and pitched for modern technologies in the medical sector for people’s welfare in remote areas.

Speaking at the second convocation function of All India Institute of Medical Sciences Raipur in Chhattisgarh, she told the gathering of medical students that there is a very slight gap between working emotion-free and lack of sensitivity.

According to the President, medical professionals will play a decisive role in realising the dream of ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India) by 2047.

“We have been passing through such an era wherein modern technologies greatly impact the life of humans rapidly. For the welfare of people living in remote areas, such technologies can be used,” she said.

“AIIMS Raipur has been making efforts in this direction. I have been told that AIIMS Raipur has been working on an Artificial Intelligence-based clinical decision support system through which doctors in remote areas will be provided with assistance in real-time during (medical) emergencies,” she said.

Established in 2012, AIIMS Raipur has earned a lot of reputation in a few years of its journey, she said. The institution has been working to eradicate malnutrition with national and international cooperation, the President said.

“Treatment is provided to patients in the Sickle Cell Clinic here. Awareness camps are also organised to identify Sickle Cell patients. These works being done by AIIMS Raipur will improve community health and the lives of citizens,” she said.

Highlighting the development in the medical and healthcare sector in the last 10 years, the President said several steps have been taken to provide universal healthcare in the country.

“Under the ‘Ayushman Bharat Yojana’, citizens above 70 years of age are also being benefited. ‘Prime Minister Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Project’ is providing cheap and quality medicines to people. In the last ten years, medical colleges and MBBS and PG seats have also increased. New AIIMS campuses have also been established,” she said.

“We have targeted to become a developed nation by 2047. The work done by your generation will play a decisive role in realising this national resolution,” she told the audience.

Urging the medical students to give priority to the underprivileged groups while serving, the President said, “Well-equipped people have several options but deprived sections look towards you with hope. I advise that you remain committed to serving everyone, especially those who are helpless.”

Medical professionals have immense responsibilities as their decisions many a time are related to saving lives, she said.

“As medical professionals, you often go through challenging situations. You learn to control your feelings while coping with such challenges. There is a very slight gap between working emotion-free and lack of sensitivity,” she said.

Murmu said many eminent and top doctors of the world have advised medical professionals to work with human values, citing the example of Dr Francis Weld Peabody. Many medical institutions across the world advise their students to read his article ‘The Care of the Patient’, she said.

In his work, Peabody has written that “the treatment of a disease may be entirely impersonal; the care of a patient must be completely personal”, she said.

Murmu also suggested that students should always remember human values while working, underscoring that these values make people strong.

She also advised medical professionals to take care of their own health while serving in a stressful environment.

In the morning, Murmu arrived in Chhattisgarh on a two-day visit.