Thaindian News

New Delhi, Apr 21 (ANI): Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today called upon the medical fraternity to be well prepared to tackle the problems and challenges emerging from newer concerns of various diseases like Cancer, Cardio Vascular and Chronic respiratory diseases.Addressing students and health professionals on the occasion of 95th Annual Day and Convocation of Lady Hardinge Medical College and Associated Hospitals here, Azad said: “The biggest challenge is to provide quality health to the poor especially in the rural and remote areas of the country.”He also underlined the need to revamp medical education to fulfill the health requirements of the contemporary society. “I firmly believe that we need commitment of all medical professionals in providing quality health care,” he said.He said, to increase availability of doctors in rural areas, it has been decided to provide 50 per cent reservation of seats in PG diploma medical courses for medical officers working in rural areas. “At the same time for each year of service in the rural areas, additional marks would be provided to the candidates appearing for PG entrance examination. Similarly, action has been initiated to set up one National Institute of Para Medical Sciences at Delhi and Nine Regional Institutes of Para Medical Sciences across the country,” he added. He further said that in wake of H1N1, more testing laboratories were setup, increasing their number from 2 to 46 and develop indigenous influenza vaccine and affordable reagents, which were imported earlier in the country - all achieved within a period of six months.” Similarly, the rapid climate changes also resulted in emergence of new zoonotic infections like Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) and reemergence of infections like dengue and chikungunya,” he added. (ANI)