Focus on quality medical care, urges AIIMS president

A total of 5884 students collected their medals, ranks, and degrees amid proud parents in a packed hall at the special convocation held at SRM Institute of Science & Technology, Kattankulathur on December 28, 2019.

Chief Guest of the event Dr T S Ravikumar, President of AIIMS Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh congratulated students for having crossed this milestone. "We are stepping into 2020, a year of vision and SRMIST has given you a chance to create a new vision. So seize the day and enjoy it."

Urging students to make good use of the time this Member –WHO Global Patient Safety Curriculum Committee and Founding "Chittur Viswanathan Parvathy Endowed Chair" – quality/Patient safety, SVIMS, Tirupati said you are all a privileged lot as many do not get such opportunities. Make use of the chance this institution has offered you.

"SRMIST is one place where students can equip themselves in several disciplines under one roof. You are the future of knowledge. You can create special things if you can think in multifaceted forms." He later gave a presentation on 'Quality & Patient Safety - The Universal Language for Universal Healthcare'

"Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and big data are the future. Although India is gifted with many first, we will have to adapt to the transformations in these fields. This is an opportunity for students at SRMIST to make a change in technology, health care and so on. Although we have the best doctor-patient ration, our infant mortality and mortality rates are still high. Our health care quincunx is something that needs urgent attention. Quality and patient safety is the universal language that is echoing attention. Many of the students should carry this torch as the absence of patient safety means the absence of preventable harm happening in health care. Our aim should be to bring down the mortality rate to an acceptable minimum. Apart from prevention, you should also learn from errors and teamwork."

"Man-to-man, machine-to-man and machine-to-machine interfaces must work for patient safety. Unsafe care can be labeled as a disease. More than half of these causes are preventable. Of this, one third leads to disability and even death. Diagnostic errors also add to this. So whatever profession you are taking, your aim should be to minimize errors," said senior healthcare professional.

Echoing on the same line, Dr Damodar Acharya, Former-Chairman, AICTE, New Delhi, and Former Director IIT Kharagpur, who was the guest of honour said, "Technology is fast changing. There is a sea of change in it every day and it is important to be able to cope up with it. Organ replacing and drug developing are some of the most growing sectors. It is important for students to grow in these areas to be competent."

"Be open to new businesses and solving problems. The need of the customers are changing and this is paving the way to new problems. We are now in an era of personalised manufacturing which is overtaking mass production. Soon the stores of today may become a thing of the past. Smart mobility, smart city, smart health care, and smart mobility will soon be a reality."

He concluded by saying, "You have to do everything yourself each time you face problems. You need to be your own guiding light and most importantly, never forget your alma mater, because it is the reason for your growth."

Vice-Chancellor of SRMIST, Dr Sandeep Sancheti presented the annual report. The convocation was held in the presence of Founder-Chancellor of SRM Institute of Science & Technology and Member of Parliament Lok Sabha, Dr T R Paarivendhar, President of SRMIST Dr P Sathyanarayanan, Vice President Dr R Shivakumar, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Dr TP Ganesan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Dr R Balasubramanian, Registrar Dr N Sethuraman, Members of the Board of Management, Members of the Academic Council among others.