Symbiosis founder Dr S B Mujumdar has called for strengthening medical education in the country. “India’s doctors are world class and second to none. They have magic in their fingers. India needs more doctors. But we have made medical education costly, lengthy and difficult. No wonder that thousands of eligible students who are not selected in NEET, go abroad to countries where medical education is affordable and admission easier,” the Chancellor of Symbiosis International University said at the commemoration ceremony of the golden Jubilee year of Symbiosis.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Symbiosis Aarogya Dham on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Mujumdar, the 86-year-old educationist, urged the National Medical Council to explore the possibility of reviving the age-old practice of family doctors. A short course of three years’ teaching plus one year internship should be framed. Qualified nurses should also be eligible for a family doctor’s course by introducing a bridge course, he urged.
Dr Mujumdar also got a standing ovation as despite
feeling weak, he continued with his welcome address in the presence of PM Modi. He had to be assisted to a chair where he continued his address and said he was getting old. “I am now waiting in the departure lounge of the airport, waiting for my flight and do not know the timing. However, my soul would hover over Symbiosis forever,” Dr Mujumdar said.