Serve people in remote area: Shah to graduating students at AIIMS in Rishikesh

Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked students at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here to look at their profession as a means to serve people, especially those in remote parts with no access to healthcare facilities.

At the second convocation ceremony of the institute, he said the Ayushman Bharat, providing a coverage of Rs five lakh for each poor family annually, or the Jan Aushadhi Kendras where one can get cheap medicines and medical equipment reflect Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to provide every section access to better health services.

Shah congratulated the 248 students of the institute who were conferred degrees and said it was a new beginning for them, a time to bring their knowledge and skill to the service of people in remote villages who are deprived of good healthcare facilities.

"The spirit of service on part of doctors is a must for improving healthcare systems in the country," the Union minister said and appealed to students to do their research here and work not just to build a good career for themselves but to serve the last man in the remotest villages.

This is the true goal of the medical profession, he said and cited Swami Vivekananda who defined true knowledge as the strength to rise above oneself and think about others.

Medical infrastructure across the country was being expanded under PM Modi with 157 new medical colleges opened by him, Shah said adding 29,000 more MBBS and 17,000 more post-graduate seats have been created throughout the country in the last six years.

"Measures like this are meant to make more doctors so that there is one in every village and every tehsil," he said.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, in his address, asked the graduating students to have compassion which, he said, is the highest and most important value for a doctor.