Address Governor at the dedication ceremony of the Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Medical College in Mumbai

Address by Shri CH. Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra at the dedication ceremony of the Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Medical College at R N Cooper Municipal General Hospital, Vile Parle (West), Mumbai at 1130 hrs on Sunday, 11 December 2016

Shri Uddhav Thackeray, Hon’ble Executive President of Shiv Sena, Dr Manohar Joshi, Former Speaker, Shri Ramdas Kadam, Hon’ble Minister of Environment, Shri Vinod Tawde, Hon’ble Guardian Minister, Shri Subhash Desai, Hon’ble Minister for Industries, Dr Deepak Sawant, Hon’ble Minister for Public Health and Family Welfare, Smt Snehal Ambekar, Hon’ble Mayor of Mumbai, Shri Ravindra Waikar, Minister of State, Shri Gajanan Kirtikar, Member of Parliament, Smt Alka Kerkar, Deputy Mayor, Shri Amit Satam, Member of the State Legislature, Shri Ajoy Mehta, Municipal Commissioner, Additional Municipal Commissioner, senior government officials, doctors, paramedical staff and general staff from the R N Cooper Hospital, teachers and staff of the new Medical College, volunteers, social workers, invitees, ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon and greetings to you.

I am indeed very happy to associate myself with the naming ceremony of the newly created Medical College after Hindu Hriday Samrat Shri Balasaheb Thackeray and dedicating the hospital in the service of the people. It is a matter of great happiness for the people of Mumbai that a government medical college has been created in Mumbai after a gap of nearly five decades.

I convey my appreciation to the Government of Maharashtra and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai for creating this institution. I am sure, it will prove to be a boon – both for the aspiring medical students and for the society at large.

Shri Balasaheb Thackeray was one of the most respected and popular leaders produced by Maharashtra in the post – Independence era. For nearly six decades, he dominated the political space in Maharashtra and created a place for himself in the heart of millions of people in Maharashtra as also in the country. Former Prime Minister of India Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee had the highest regard and respect for Balasaheb Thackeray. Balasaheb loved the city of Mumbai and sincerely cared for the poor people and the working class of Mumbai. It is only appropriate that the Medical College is being named after Shri Balasaheb Thackeray.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Our beloved city of Mumbai has grown by leaps and bounds during the last 100 years. The population of Mumbai in the year 1921 was about Twelve Lakh Forty Four Thousands. At the time of independence, the population was somewhere around 30 lakh. Today, the population of Greater Mumbai has crossed the one crore mark. When we include the population of Thane, Kalyan, Vasai and other municipal areas, it crosses 1.5 crore !

Many of the large public hospitals – either State run hospitals or municipal hospitals were created when the population of the city was much less.

Quite naturally, most of the public and Charitable Trust Hospitals in Mumbai are over burdened. The OPDs in these hospitals are overflowing. In some major hospitals, people have to sleep on the floor due to shortage of beds. Many private and Corporate hospitals were created in Mumbai and they are also offering good services to the people. But they are expensive for the common man.

I do feel that we must prepare a Master Plan for strengthening and upgrading all the existing major hospitals in Mumbai to meet the needs of the growing population. We must also think of creating a couple of large hospitals in the suburbs. Secondly, we must upgrade, equip and modernize all the peripheral hospitals, maternity homes and dispensaries.

We will have to be mindful of the fact that a large majority of our people are either poor and come from the lower middle class. We owe them the best of healthcare at the most affordable cost.

Thirdly, we also need Rugna Seva Sadans and Dharam Shalas near all major hospitals to offer a roof for the relatives of patients.

Ladies and gentlemen,

For a country of 125 crore people and for a State with nearly 11.5 crore people, we are producing very few doctors. There are only 7 physicians per 10,000 population in India, compared to 15 in China, 25 in United States, 28 in the UK and 43 in Russia. We do have private medical colleges. But the fees in the private medical colleges are extremely high.

We must therefore review the intake capacity of all public medical colleges and increase their strength wherever possible. We must also bring and retain the best faculties at our medical teaching institutions.

Mumbai has been the city of business leaders who were also great philanthropists. Noble souls like Nana Shankershet, Jamshed Jejeebhoy, David Sassoon, the Tatas, Birlas and many others have created several public institutions for the people which are serving society even today. We must promote and revive the culture of giving in our society. We must also seek the involvement of Corporate in strengthening our public institutions.

Nurses are the most important link in the healthcare sector. I will appeal to the Municipal Corporation and the State Government to also create Government Nursing Colleges.

Once again I convey my appreciation to the Municipal Corporation and the State Government for creating the new medical College and take great pleasure in dedicating the Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Medical College to the people.

Thank you

Jai Hind ! Jai Maharashtra !!