VELLORE: Sixty Six graduates received their degree certificates during the graduation ceremony of the Christian Medical College here on Monday.
Delivering the convocation address at the college auditorium, Dr Valson Thampu, principal of St Stephen’s College, New Delhi, said doctors - except those who specialise in public health- were trained by and large to address the illnesses of individuals. All doctors need to have concern for the health of the society; for the individual cannot really be separated from the society. This was the insight that sought - alas in vain- to effect a ‘paradigm-shift’ from the bio-medical model to a socio-bio-medical model of understanding and practicing medicine, he said.
“We need to be healers of individuals as well as of the society at large. To do this, we need to heed to the old adage, ‘Physician, Heal Thyself’,” he pointed out.
“We have to wake up to the reality that we ourselves are infected by the spirit of this age - the spirit of soulless, predatory acquisitiveness and we need to be healed,” Dr Valson Thampu said.
According to him, service is the bridge between medicos and fellow human beings. It is the most authentic form of self-expression. It is the key to a world of experiences and memories. Above all, it is the medium of growth in stature and fulfillment. It is, therefore, not for the sake of others that ‘we need to serve; it is for our own sake’, he pointed out.
The greatest disservice one can do to oneself is to insist on being ‘ministered unto’ which degraded individuals to parasites and paralytics, he added
He told the graduates to get empowered to be true ambassadors of the culture of healing that CMC embodied upon. He also advised them not to assume that education should be treated as a sort of private property or capital that ‘you may invest as we please.’
Earlier, CMC director Dr Sunil Chandy welcomed the gathering. College principal Dr Alfred Job Daniel administered oath of charge to graduates. Sixty Six graduates received the degree certificate on the occasion.
Dr R V Shaji received the Rev. Fr. Lourdu M. Yeddanapalli Award for outstanding researcher among the faculty. Dr Molly Thomas and Thomas Bhanu Award for best teacher was received by Dr Ivan James Prithis Kumar. College alumni Dr Premal Das and Dr Loretta Das received the prestigious Dr Paul Harrison Award for meritorious service in rural areas.