Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday called for warding off the menace posed by the corrosive commercialisation of medical education.
Delivering her address at the 25th convocation of the Tamil Nadu MGR Medical University here, the Chief Minister said efforts should be made to ensure maintenance of standards, and check the growth of substandard medical colleges.
The Chief Minister said the role of the university in integrating the development of health manpower, with relevance to the real health needs and demands of the people of the State, has become accentuated in the present context.
“This should be the focus and direction of the education system. The pedagogic shift from the traditional approach to a needbased approach has become inevitable,” the Chief Minister added.
Stating that the MGR Medical University should aim at creating socially-conscious health professionals, mindful of the great task ahead of them, the Chief Minister said it should be its commitment to create the healthcare delivery system of the future, to educate the workforce of tomorrow, to establish an ideal learning environment, to focus on research endeavours and consequently make a global impact.
“Medical education needs to be planned and implemented, with full awareness of the aims and demands of the healthcare services, including consistent integration of the sciences of medical practice,’’ the Chief Minister added.
She recalled that her government had stood rock-firm in protecting the rights of Tamil Nadu and the interests of the students by opposing the introduction of Common National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test, which was eventually decided in the Supreme Court in favour of stand taken by the Tamil Nadu government.
Governor K Rosaiah presided over the convocation. Health Minister KC Veeramani, Vice Chancellor of the university D Shantharam, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and senior officials attended the convocation.