RGUHS to go out of its way to honour disabled gold medallist

The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) will go out of its way to honour a wheelchair-bound gold medalist on stage at its annual convocation on Saturday.

When university authorities called up Dr Chandni Nair to inform her that she had won a gold medal in the Pharm D course and invited her to the convocation, she mentioned her disability and said she would come only on one condition: the medal should be presented to her on stage.

“We accepted her condition,” said Dr M K Ramesh, vice-chancellor, RGUHS.

On the convocation day, a university staffer will wheel Dr Nair to the back of the stage. As her name is announced, she will be taken to the stage and presented with the medal.

Dr Chandni, who studied at Oxford College of Pharmacy, Bengaluru, has been suffering from myopathy (a disease that affects the muscles) since childhood and is dependent on a wheelchair.

“During my seven-year stay in the college, I was very happy. The college has a disabled-friendly infrastructure where I never felt ignored or disappointed,” she told DH. She is working in Bengaluru.

During the convocation, the university will award degrees to 43,883 students.

Of them, 36,409 are undergraduate degrees, 6,796 postgraduate degrees, 82 PhDs, 146 super-specialty degrees, 78 postgraduate diplomas, 362 fellowships and 10 certificate courses.

Eighty-three students will be presented with 100 gold medals. Not surprisingly, girls have outshone boys, winning 67 gold medals.

Dr Shwetha N (Pharm D) and Abhishek Pandey (B Pharm) will get four gold medals each.

Dr Suman B Godi (BDS), Dr Shashikala V (BAMS), Rojina Matangulu (BPT) and Shamiyath Nusaiba will be awarded three gold medals each.

Dr Pratiksha J Pai and Dr Sannidhi (both MBBS) and Veena Sureshsing Shiggavi (nursing) will get two gold medals each.

The university will award honorary doctorates to Nirmalanandanatha Swami of Adichunchanagiri Mutt, Dr B N Gangadhar, former director, Nimhans, and paediatrician Dr Rajan Deshpande.

Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, will be the chief guest and deliver the convocation address.