For example, various preventable diseases and sufferings are still prevalent in our country and in Asian countries in general, and we must say that special emphasis needs to be placed on the preventive aspects of medicine.Moreover, the extent to which a future doctor can contribute to the welfare of the country will also depend on the extent to which he or she has developed a social perspective and a desire to serve the people.
Moreover, medical education is receiving considerable attention in all the developed countries of the world. I have had the opportunity recently of seeing what is being done in the United States, the Soviet Union, Scandinavia and even in England and the various steps which are being taken to make medical education increasingly adapted to modern needs and to further the realization of the objective of enabling future physicians to serve their communities best. India cannot remain aloof from this broad and steady programme of development which is being undertaken in other parts of the world.
The objective of setting up this All India Institute is to achieve the objectives I have mentioned. There is no need to go into detail about how the Institute will function. It will start with a medical training centre which will provide undergraduate courses to a very select few students. The main emphasis will be on postgraduate and professional courses. Today, many states want to have medical colleges but one of the reasons they are unable to do so is lack of manpower. One of the main tasks of this Medical Institute will be to train manpower for medical colleges. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get manpower. I would like to say to you, members of the House of Representatives, that when states ask for medical colleges, in most cases they are forced to rely on retired manpower. How long can we continue to rely on retired manpower? It is absolutely essential that we train young men and young women of the highest calibre to work in our educational institutions. As I have said, this demand is growing.
Now I would like to mention a few features of this institute. The current system under which doctors are allowed to practice privately at medical universities has, in my opinion – and I know that there are many who disagree with me, especially among medical professionals – adversely affected the development of healthy education and active research at universities. Therefore, a distinctive feature of this institute, the first of its kind in our country and the first of its kind in Asia, will be the prohibition of all forms of private practice and the payment of correspondingly high salaries to doctors to compensate for the loss of private practice.
If doctors are paid a decent salary, they will be able to live a satisfying life and be able to focus all their energy not only on furthering their education and treating the patients who come to the hospital, but also on their very important research. And all the staff and students will be housed on the institute campus. The institute campus is progressing quite rapidly and we welcome any council members who would like to tour the facility to see for themselves. The campus is located just beyond Safdarjung Airfield in Delhi.
I also feel that by having staff and students live on campus, we are able to revive and harness one of the great traditions of our country – the guru-faith relationship, which in my opinion has not received the attention it deserves.
Moreover, I want all students, whether undergraduate or graduate, to have ample opportunities to participate in both urban and rural health activities, both in rural and urban areas. I want students to participate from their student years and take some responsibility for the health of the people they will be responsible for later, because I think it will help them develop a perspective on the community early in their careers, and develop their initiative and observation skills and the ability to draw conclusions from them. When I was staying in the United States two years ago, something surprised me a lot. I was listening to a fourth-year student who was not yet qualified give a detailed history of a case he was responsible for. In the United States, students are given more responsibility in their final year of university studies.
And, of course, this institute will be given the powers and functions of a university, because, as I expect, this institute will probably bring about revolutionary changes in the curriculum and methods of teaching, and I feel that, first of all, the university status given to this institute will enable it to award diplomas to all the students who graduate from this institute, which, of course, will be certified qualifications and will have to be submitted to the Indian Medical Association after the amendments that I would like to propose in this House shortly.
Subject to a minimum of control to be exercised by the Government of India through its rule-making powers, the Institute will enjoy a great deal of autonomy in the achievement of its objectives. I humbly state that the objectives which I have attempted to indicate in this brief survey are very admirable. The Government of India will naturally be responsible for providing adequate funds for the maintenance of the Institute, but I hope that philanthropic organisations will also lend a hand in the support of such an institution, as they have done so many times in the past; for, after all, a contribution to the benefit of sick and suffering humanity is always an attractive proposition for those who wish to donate.
The future of the Institute will ultimately rest in the hands of the Director, the Professors, the other staff and the students. I trust that their dedication to their duties, their enthusiasm for the promotion of their work and their spirit of altruism will, overriding their personal considerations, guide them in the attainment of the aims which must be attained. This, I believe, will ultimately create and maintain the necessary atmosphere in an Institute such as this. I therefore present this Bill to the House today, with the hope that the legal structure which will be established will steadily bring about improvements in the methods of medical education in this Institute and will have an influence which will raise the standard of various forms of professional training in the health field throughout the country. I therefore recommend that the Bill be passed by the House.
I regret that this Bill has generated such fierce criticism, when in fact it is a very simple and straightforward measure that should have received the unanimous support of this House.
The plan for this All India Institute of Medical Sciences has been under discussion in this House for the last four years. We have been discussing the matter from the educational point of view, from the point of view of maintenance of standards and also from the point of view of providing an opportunity for postgraduate study to our nationals of our own background in our own country. If you look at paragraph 15 on page 5, you will see that it is clearly stated that the objective of this institute is to “provide undergraduate and postgraduate education in the science of modern medicine and other allied sciences including physical and biological sciences.”
As my friend Shrimati Renu Chakravarti MP made clear in her speech in support of the scheme, there is no reason why such institutes should not be set up. Your Excellency also said that this does not mean that we should not have postgraduate courses in Homeopathy and Ayurveda. In fact, a postgraduate course in Ayurveda has already been started across India in Jamnagar and we now want to up-level the Homeopathic University in West Bengal and introduce a postgraduate course in Bombay as well.
Now, some criticisms have been made about the formality of the Board, but I do not have much time to reply to them. I would like to inform Members that out of the 17 members of the Board, only three or four are officers. Scientists who do not represent the medical faculty or the Indian Science Congress are unlikely and unlikely to become officers. Also, there are three members of Parliament who are not officers. So this objection does not really hold water.
Now, coming to the recurrent expenditure, in the first Five Year Plan, the budget for this Institute has been approved by the House. The Member opposing this motion has stated that the recurrent expenditure for this Institute is Rs. 1,311,500 crore. I would like to inform this Member, your Excellency, and the House that Rs. 1,311,500 crore is the recurrent expenditure for the seven years from 1953 to 1959, and not for one year. All this has been explained earlier. I do not have time to go into the details of the expenditure.
As for the rural and urban centres, we are going to have education there. As Shrimati Renu Chakravarti pointed out, it does not mean that there will not be rural and urban centres in other parts of India. A question has been raised as to whether the existing medical colleges will stop postgraduate studies. I would like to assure you, MPs, that no, because we have upgraded certain faculties for postgraduate studies in each state. This process will continue. So, there will not be a concentration of any kind of colleges here. The nursing college and dental college will definitely be here with this institute. You cannot ask me today to move this institute out of Delhi, because the decision to have this institute in Delhi was taken many years ago.
A Member of Parliament has asked me to give a commitment about the University in Delhi and to start the same at Irwin Hospital. If my plans had been realised, the institute would have been functional by now but then I had to give up Irwin Hospital. Now, once the States Reorganisation Report is completed and Delhi comes under the Central Government as suggested by that committee, Irwin Hospital will be available. It is certainly in my mind that a university should be built in Delhi so that the people of this region do not have to go outside for their studies.
There is no need to discuss Ayurveda here as it is not relevant to this issue. I have heard that China has a lot to emulate. China has made progress in modern medicine and, moreover, they have asked me if they could come and consider this bill. In fact, I have sent them a copy of this bill. They are determined to introduce similar measures in China as well. I would like to state that I have consulted the best medical educationists in India. I have consulted Indian scientists outside medicine, those practicing sciences related to medicine. I have also consulted the Indian Medical Association.
As for the name, we call it the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. We are not calling it the All India Institute of Modern Medical Sciences. The name is all-embracing as it is. As Ayurveda and Homeopathy evolve and are incorporated into modern science, this institute will undoubtedly benefit from it.
With these few words, I would like to once again assure the Lok Sabha that I have no intention of denigrating Ayurveda or any other system of medicine. This is a genuine and sincere attempt to bring about good standards of medical education in the country and make it available to all. I am totally in agreement that healthcare should be cheap. This can be achieved if we start manufacturing medicines in our own country and provide the best medical education to our young people in our own country.
This is part of ThePrint’s Great Speeches series, featuring speeches and debates that shaped modern India.
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