President Pranab Mukherjee today exhorted young doctors to play a key role in nation- building and reminded them that their foremost duty in their new role as doctors was to live up to the good faith and trust reposed in them. He also advised them to use their knowledge and technical expertise for the welfare of the common man.
In his ceremonial address at the 11th convocation of Army college of Dental Sciences (ACDS) at Jawahar Nagar in Secunderabad today, the President called upon the young doctors to build in their minds a strong sense of patriotism and social responsibility. Health is an important indicator of country’s progress and only a healthy population possesses a greater capacity to access education, knowledge and employment opportunities, he added. Stressed the importance and need of the oral health, the President urged the dental doctors to serve the people with humanism.
The President said there was a huge gap in dental doctors ratio between rural and uUrban Areas — there is one doctor for every 8000 population in urban areas while one doctor for 50,000 people in rural areas. “This gap has to be reduced”, the President urged the dental doctors to develop the culture of oral health. He suggested that the dentists should take initiatives to organize health camps and mobile camps and awareness programs in rural India for the benefit of the people to create awareness on personal hygiene and health care among people to prevent diseases. “The parents should inculcate healthy food habits among children to avoid oral health problems. There is a need for changing life styles towards healthy food habits”, he added.
The President gave away the Trophies to Outstanding students for their Best Academic Excellence in Studies. Governor E.S.L Narasimhan gave away Degrees to PG Dental Science Graduates. Lt. Col RK Anand gave away the graduation degrees to the successful students. Deputy Chief Minister Mohammad Ali, Vice-Chancellor of Kaloji Narayana Rao Health University Dr Karunakar Reddy, senior officers of Armed forces, parents of the Medical students participated in the convocation ceremony. (NSS)