Address by Governor at the Inaugural Ceremony of Interdisciplinary Medical Summit MEDINSPIRE 2019
Address by Shri CH. Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra at the Inaugural Ceremony of Interdisciplinary Medical Summit MEDINSPIRE 2019 at Dr D Y Patil University, Navi Mumbai at 1700 hrs on Thursday, 14th February 2019
Shri Eknath Shinde, Hon’ble Minister for Public Health and Public Works, Dr D Y Patil, former Governor of Bihar and Tripura, Dr Shrikant Shinde, Member of Parliament and Orthopedic Surgeon, Shri Jaywant Sutar, Hon’ble Mayor of Navi Mumbai, Shri Prashant Thakur, Chairman, CIDCO, Dr Vijay Patil, Chancellor of D Y Patil University, Padma Bhushan Dr Farokh Udwadia, Dr Ajinkya Patil, Smt Shivani Patil, Dr Nandita Palshetkar, Gynecologist and President FOGSI, Shri Sanjay Kumar, Commissioner of Police, Navi Mumbai, Dr. N. Ramaswamy, Municipal Commissioner, distinguished delegates from India and foreign countries, doctors from public sector hospitals, members of faculty, experts, students, representatives of industry, ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon and a warm welcome to you.
Since taking charge as Governor of Maharashtra more than 4 years ago, I must have attended scores of Medical Conferences. These included conferences on Radiology, Ophthalmology, Cancer, Gastroenterology, Holistic Heath, Ayurveda and other specialized subjects.
I must say, this International Multidisciplinary Medical Summit, MEDINSPIRE, is the Mother of all Conferences, in the sense, it is the most comprehensive, holistic and inclusive Conference.
I can very much understand and imagine how much effort goes in hosting such events. I congratulate the members of the Organizing Committee who have strived day and night to organize this grand Conference.
I congratulate the D Y Patil University and more particularly Chancellor Dr Vijay D Patil and his entire team for conceiving and organizing this International Multidisciplinary Medical Summit, MEDINSPIRE.
I wish and hope that MEDINSPIRE will create a dynamic global platform to discuss, share and exchange innovations in medical practices.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Indian mythology refers to the ‘Samudra Manthan’, which means the great churning of the Ocean. It is said that the great churning brought out 14 precious stones from the Ocean and finally brought out the Nectar of Immortality or Amruta.
In the same way I believe that your four days of deliberations would bring out an Elixir of Life that will ensure good health and long life, if not immortality, to the people of India and the world at large.
Friends,
Among the various fields closely associated with the health, well being and wellness of people, the field of medicine has witnessed maximum advancements, some of which are simply mind-boggling.
Thanks to improvement in the standard of living of the people since Independence and especially to advancements in healthcare, the average life expectancy of the people of India which was just about 32 years at the time of Independence in the year 1947, has gone up to a respectable 70 years. People are living longer and living better.
However, this respectable figure obscures an important fact that quality healthcare is neither accessible uniformly nor affordable to the large majority of our population even today.
With a view to enable these large majority of the people of India to access quality medical care, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi recently launched the most ambitious healthcare programme, Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan (or the Prime Minister’s Public Health Campaign).
This scheme, known as Modicare, which is regarded as the world’s largest government-funded insurance scheme, is expected to benefit 100 million families or half a billion people, who will get health insurance worth Rs 5 lakh per annum. The Ayushman Bharat is the most significant step towards realizing the goal of Health for All. Within just 5 months of its launch, the Scheme has benefited several thousands of people, especially the poor, from across the country.
Ladies and gentlemen,
India is emerging as the youngest nation in the world. It is estimated that by next year, that is 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29 years, which is 8 years younger than the average age of a Chinese or an American.
While countries of the world are ageing, India is expected to get the demographic advantage for at least the next 30 years.
However India is also facing a set of healthcare challenges, some of which may negate the gains of demographic dividend and place a burden on the national exchequer.
Lifestyle diseases, particularly diabetes and hypertension are causing a great havoc in our country posing serious challenge to public health. India is already emerging as the Diabetes Capital of the World. It is estimated that one-third of the global diabetic population is Indian.
According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), India is currently home to over 61 million people with diabetes. By 2030, India’s diabetes burden is expected to cross the 100 million mark. One million Indians die every year due to diabetes related complications
I do feel that the medical fraternity should view diabetes as a global challenge and find ways and means to adderss it effectively and in a holistic manner. I dream of a day, when the research fraternity innovate a wonder drug to cure diabetes!
Obesity is another significant challenge staring at us. According to one statistics, worldwide 39 per cent of adults were overweight and 13 per cent were obese in 2016. What is deeply worrying is that children are increasingly getting obese. Obesity is bringing with it, a set of problems such as Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart ailments and a variety of cancer. I seek the attention of this distinguished gathering towards this problem.
A very pertinent issue was raised by Dr Yusuf Hamied, Chairman of Cipla during a talk in Mumbai, which was reported by a leading newspaper. He has warned that Antimicrobial resistance caused by indiscriminate use of antibiotics would be the next big health crisis. I will call upon the global medical fraternity to take note of this observation.
Ladies and gentlemen,
There is another side to India’s increased life expectancy. According to the 2011 population census, India has 104 million elderly people having age of 60 and above. India’s population is expected to rise from 1.3 billion today to an estimated 1.7 billion by 2050 surpassing China. It is expected that India will have 340 million elderly people in the year 2050. Which means, India alone will have an elderly population which is more than the total population of the United States of America!!
With elderly population increasing steadily, there will be a growing threat of chronic diseases. We need advice and recommendations from this gathering to address the challenge of health issues of the elderly people so that we may improve the quality of their life. There are many Children’s Hospitals at least in big cities. India will need many more Hospitals for the Elders in the years to come.
Ladies and gentleman,
‘Social Media’ has emerged as the most influential doctor during the last few years ! Several health related messages are circulated on the social media, and people are consuming these messages without verifying their authenticity. Quite often, ‘Dr Social Media’ is giving wrong prescriptions and misleading advice to the people. We have to curb such bogus messages immediately. I will call upon the medical fraternity to counter false information and messages relating to the medical field flowing on the social media and post correct information wherever possible. This will save at least a few more lives !
Today I want to congratulate and compliment the Hon’ble Minister for Public Health Shri Eknath Ji Shinde for starting 28 ‘Memory Clinics’ in various districts of Maharashtra. These Memory Clinic will tackle the problem of Alzeimer’s disease and Dementia. We have to attach greater attention to tackling mental illnesses and remove the stigma around such diseases.
As Governor of Maharashtra, I also happen to be the Chancellor of 20 public state universities having a student strength of 3 million. These include a University of Health Sciences which has several medical colleges under its control.
There is a general consensus that the quality of medical education in the country is steadily declining. An urgent course correction is needed. We need collaborative effort to improve the quality of medical education in the country.
The Medinspire is a unique platform for medical professionals across the globe to to understand and adopt different ideas and transform the healthcare landscape globally.
I am glad that more than 70 International speakers, 500 National Speakers and 30 medical specialties are participating in the Medical Summit. I wish and hope that medical practitioners, specialists, researchers and especially students will find the Medical Summit an enriching and rewarding experience.
I would like to congratulate the D Y Patil University for inviting public health care professionals from across Maharashtra to participate in the MEDINSPIRE. Your collective efforts wlll go a long way in encouraging our medical professionals to transform healthcare at the grassroots level.
I wish all the delegates a memorable Summit and pleasant stay in Maharashtra.
Thank you
Jai Hind ! Jai Maharashtra !!