His Excellency Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare and President, AIIMS New Delhi; Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare; Professor Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS New Delhi; Professor Anita Saxena, Dean, AIIMS; Dr. Sanjeev Lalwani, Registrar, AIIMS; faculty members, scientists and students,
A very good morning and best wishes for 2021.
It is a privilege to address you today, for the annual convocation of such an esteemed institution – a temple of modern India that is globally recognized for its excellence and empathy, gifts that I am sure you will carry with you.
I begin by conveying my deep congratulations to the students and residents who have received their academic degrees and awards.
Today is a landmark day in your life. You worked hard to get here, and you completed your final year in the midst of a global pandemic.
It has been a tough year, but you have shown great resilience – a quality that is fundamental to our discipline, and which I urge you to cultivate throughout your career.
Over the past 12 months, AIIMS itself has held true to its reputation, carrying out cutting-edge research and playing a vital role in standardizing care across India.
It has taken full advantage of key innovations, including the WHO Academy app, which has provided health professionals in India and across the Region and world real-time guidance and training to help them care for COVID-19 patients and protect themselves.
AIIMS is one of the world’s leading contributors to published medical research, with scientific output of high impact. Its faculty has assisted national and international agencies in developing policies and programmes for health care, and its alumni have provided leadership to academic departments in India and abroad.
It is this commitment to excellence, embodied in the very DNA of this institution, and reflected in the remarkable work of staff, faculty and students, that will enable India to achieve its many public health and development goals in the months, years and decades to come.
And let us be candid: India’s mission is bold.
As His Excellency Dr Harsh Vardhan continues to advocate, India is committed to achieving universal health coverage (UHC).
The Ayushman Bharat initiative is perhaps the most daring attempt anywhere in the world to make quality health care accessible to all, without financial hardship.
Between 2010 and 2019 India improved the coverage of essential services from 47% to 61%.
The opening of so many new AIIMS institutes has enhanced access to high-quality medical education and improved the supply of doctors and specialists, particularly in deficient areas, and has been complemented by the enactment of the National Medical Commission Act.
India’s commitment to increase government expenditure on health to 2.5% of GDP should inspire us all.
Fulfilling and even surpassing that figure will be especially important in the recovery from this crisis, which has underscored the fact that public health spending is an investment, not a cost, and is one of the most efficient ways to promote and secure sustainable social and economic development.
Dear students,
My message to you today, which I hope you will carry throughout your career, is simple.
Identify, understand and embrace your mission. Pursue it with empathy and humility, and not merely a willingness, but a desire to listen and learn from those around you, especially the communities you serve.
You will be the tip of the spear in India’s quest to achieve UHC, a policy goal that must always – always – place communities at its centre.
The value of solidarity will be especially important to your endeavours, and has for many years been one of the South-East Asia Region’s guiding principles, reflected in its approach to a range of pressing health issues, from combating the health effects of climate change, to ending TB, enhancing emergency preparedness and response, and securing access for all to essential medical products.
The most recent example is the Region’s Declaration on the Collective Response to COVID-19, which health ministers from across the Region, including His Excellency, India’s Hon’ble Minister of Health, adopted in September to strengthen the response and build a more health-secure recovery, together.
The pandemic has shown that even in countries with access to the most advanced medical science and technologies, good public health outcomes are by no means guaranteed.
Rather, achieving such outcomes is dependent on the trust and solidarity that public health professionals inspire, and which I urge you to take every opportunity to build and develop.
Let me finish with a fable.
Many centuries ago, a powerful king asked his chief minister to find him a magic ring that if one wore while happy one would become sad and vice versa.
The minister searched, and then finally consulted a wise old man. The old man smiled, took out a gold ring, etched four words onto it and handed it over.
The chief minister then approached the court and handed the ring to the king, who on reading the four words suddenly turned serious, realizing that they contained a philosophy that answered the impossible task he had set.
The four words were: “This too shall pass”.
Suddenly, the king realized that life is ephemeral and that nothing, neither happiness nor unhappiness, lasts forever.
This tale applies too to the many hardships that this pandemic has brought, and I encourage you to please share it with your patients.
I once again congratulate you, dear students and awardees, and thank His Excellency Dr Harsh Vardhan and Professor Guleria for the opportunity to address you today.
Stay healthy and safe.
Thank you.