Even as a few dozen doctors and passing out students of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here apply for foreign jobs, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss Tuesday urged them to stay back in the country and serve fellow people. "Don't go outside India. Serve the nation as they (people) need your services the most," Ramadoss said.
"Stay put in India and if you are going to foreign countries for further training, then finish it and come back," he said as he gave away the degree to 749 doctors and nurses at the much delayed 35th convocation ceremony of the AIIMS.Some 25 graduates from the AIIMS and some doctors have applied for jobs abroad and a huge number of nursing graduates annually go out of the country for jobs that draw higher emoluments.
The minister said the country has rolled out a flagship National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to strengthen the healthcare facility in rural India and the doctors and nurses passing out of the AIIMS should help in achieving success of the scheme.
"The country needs your participation to achieve success. AIIMS is the best institute of the country, and I need your support. "The six AIIMS like institutes are coming up in different states and I urge the pass-out doctors and nurses and eminent panel of senior doctors of the AIIMS to help us in providing technical know-how.
"I know, you are the best. Help us in setting up six AIIMS like institutes," Ramadoss said. After a long wait, Ramadoss, who is also the president of AIIMS, awarded degrees to 749 doctors and nurses who have graduated in different streams since May 2005.
Of the 749 degrees awarded Tuesday, 63 are Ph.D. degrees, 186 MD (Doctorate in Medicine) degrees, and 103 are MBBS degrees. Also, 127 nursing graduates received their degrees. These doctors and nurses had to wait for long for their degrees as Ramadoss had not signed them.
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Presiding over the ceremony, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: "We hope you all work in India. You all should work for a healthier and happier India."
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