RGUHS to become research hub in medicine

If it was not a pandemic, the silver jubilee function of a university would have gone unnoticed by the public who, otherwise, would have been busy in their mundane life. It is more so with Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences which is kick-starting its Silver Jubilee celebrations today because it is a specialized one.

At a time when thousands of doctors passed out from the RGUHS together with those who are studying now, treating patients with Covid-19 infection inside and outside the state, the Silver Jubilee function seems more meaningful.

It is gratifying to note that doctors, nurses and paramedics, who got degrees from RGUHS, along with others, have become ‘Corona warriors’ and helping the humanity to fight this deadly virus. In this context, the Silver Jubilee of RGUHS is a moment of celebration for people of Karnataka as one of their universities started on June 1, 1996, has produced noble doctors, nurses and paramedics and genuinely helping the humanity at large.

It’s all the more important as the year-long Silver Jubilee celebrations are being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 1 through video-conferencing.

A glance at the break-up of students pursuing different courses will answer the question as to why RGUHS has become the biggest health university in the country. As many as 6,200 students are pursuing MBBS course besides over 40,000 students who are into undergraduate courses of Indian System of Medicines and paramedical courses.

Over 11,000 students are in PG courses including 220 doctors who are pursuing super-specialty courses and another 202 who are doing research in different medical streams.

The University has given thrust on research activity and now, this has been extended to the entire teaching faculty. The RGUHS has been partnering with other premier institutes such as IISc, NCBS, JNCASR and CHG to conduct research activities. With the help IISc, residential training programmes are being taken up in the field of Nanotechnology and Molecular Biology.

A university is a fountainhead of knowledge and will be a guiding spirit for the society at large. Whereas for a health university, saving lives is a primary motto. In the inter-connected world, it is quite natural for any health university to aspire for finding a place among the top health universities in the world. It may take some time but very soon, the RGUHS will not only become one the top-rated universities in the world, rather, it becomes a hub of research activity in the field of medicine.

(The writer is Karnataka’s Medical Education Minister)