BENGALURU: At least 50 per cent of the population will get national health insurance in the coming years and all the hospitals should use this opportunity to improve their services, said the Chairman of National Medical Commission (NMC), Dr BN Gangadhar, while speaking at the 26th Convocation of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), on Tuesday.
He added that Karnataka has reached the doctor to patient ratio of 2 : 1,000 which surpasses the WHO’s recommendation of one doctor per thousand population. “However this is not enough, as developed countries have a ratio of 3 : 1000 and our patients should not fall back on receiving optimum treatment. We need more human resource,” he said.
He further said that in the last 10 years NMC has aided in doubling the number of MBBS and PG courses. Speaking about integrative medicine, he said it will be the future of healthcare and the medical infrastructure is shifting towards it.
“Each college and each faculty member needs to introspect on improving research and patents in the medical field. 1.75 lakh people have entered the field this year and we have about 1.85 lakh faculty in the country. We ought to produce better research quality,” he added.
During the convocation Dr GK Venkatesh G, Dr Prakash Biradar, and Dr Pinki Bhatia Topiwala, were bestowed with honorary doctorates by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot. Gehlot emphasised the significance of medical service and the Karnataka government’s efforts in aligning healthcare provisions with global standards.
Sharan Prakash Patil, Medical Education Minister said, “The government will continue to extend all necessary support to RGUHS in ensuring enhanced quality of Health Science Education...”
At the convocation ceremony, 88 candidates secure 100 Gold Medals. The ceremony saw 44,525 undergraduates, 7,815 postgraduates, 17 PHDs, 156 super specialty candidates, 122 fellowship candidates, 8 completed their certificate course, and 7 completed their post graduation diploma.