He was speaking at ‘Summer Dreams’, the ‘Graduation Day’ of 2005 batch of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMC&RI) organised jointly by the college and MMC&RI Alumni Association here on Tuesday.

Continuous learning

Pointing out that only meritorious students join MMC&RI, Ramdas said that is important for each doctor to be a student throughout their career and opt for the path of continuous learning.

Dismayed at the trend wherein many are joining medical colleges by paying lakhs of rupees, Ramdas said such people often take short cuts to gaining a degree, by hook or crook.

Significance

“They bring down the significance of being graduates in medicine to just making-money, for themselves and for the hosppital they work for,” he added.

Commenting that MMC&RI students have high intelligence quotient, Ramdas said that he observed them to even have high emotional quotient.

Moral quotient

But it is also necessary to have a ‘moral quotient’ too, he added.

Mentioning that doctors have the power to extend the life of people, he mentioned that it was only a mother, father, teacher and doctor who were considered as gods. But he expressed anguish that rapid commercialisation was taking away that honour from doctors.

He also recollected that the number of medical seats had been increased from 1,100 to 2,250 and an additional 150 seats were granted for post graduation. Ramdas urged upon the graduates to take the initiative towards making the country the hub of health services during the next decade.

Best outgoing students

Padma Priya Kasukurti was honoured as the best out-going academic student, while Amit Hosamani, Chetan Kumar K S  and Impana shared the best sportsperson award. Nikhil Kumar P Joge and Prathibha B Naik were the cultural awardees, while Manu Suresh Sharma and Sharath Koushik were awarded the literary awards.

Minister speak

Speaking to media persons, Medical Education and District In-Charge Minister S A Ramdas said that necessary steps to ensure quality education will be taken up. He said, “It is our responsibility to ensure quality education in medical courses too.” Terming the practise of cheating with malpractices during exams as a curse, he said that a lobby is working behind such malpractices and adequate measures will be taken to check the recurrence of incidents.

Toppers

The toppers are- Dr Jayasudha S, Chetana K, Dr Padma Priya Kasukurti, Dr Suhas Aital, Dr Punyashree R, Dr Swathi Karanth M P, Dr Sunil Kumar N and Dr Vidushi Shankar. They were given away gold medals on the occasion.