Mangalore, Mar 26: Santosh Narayanan has been a consistent rank holder. He stood 15th in the Kerala SSLC examinations scoring an impressive 96 per cent in PCB (physics, chemistry, biology) in II PU. But little did the student from A.J. Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalore, know that at the end of his MBBS course, he would be balancing a heavy tray of 17 gold medals — the highest given to a single student.
Dr. Narayanan was among the 45 students who received 69 gold medals during the 15th convocation of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) held in Bangalore on Monday. A total of 27,512 candidates were awarded degrees (5,616 were present at the convocation), while Ph.D. degrees were given to 34 candidates.
Hailing from a family of doctors in Kozhikode (his parents, sister and brother-in-law are doctors), Dr. Narayanan has already secured a seat in Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry. “I want to do MD in general medicine and specialise in haematology-oncology,” he said.
Asked whether the mandatory rural service for doctors was acceptable, he said: “The mandatory rural service is good as it doesn't really interfere with our studies. We need doctors at the right places.”
The gold medallist wants to concentrate on research in the treatment of cancer. “It is a field that requires manpower. Cancer treatment is still a mystery; medicines are also very expensive. I want to conduct research in this area to make cancer a fully curable disease,” he said.
Bhankar Ruchi Ramesh from A.B. Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences, Mangalore, was the other star of the day with four gold medals. A native of Gujarat, she too takes after her doctor father. “I admit dental was my second choice after medicine. But I have no regrets. Karnataka is a good place to study and I intend to pursue postgraduation (PG) in endodontics here,” she said.
However, like her peers, she too expressed anxiety over the uncertainty surrounding PG medical admissions. “I have written almost 10 entrance exams, including the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-PG). I hope the NEET comes into effect as it will open up more opportunities for us across the country,” she added.
Earlier, Padma Bhushan B.M. Hegde, former Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University, delivered the convocation address. Speaking about the future of medicine, he said, “I'm happy that this university (RGUHS) offers alternative systems of medicine. The future of medicine is not wholly modern medicine; it is a combination of modern and other systems of medicine.”
Also emphasising on “bed-side research” by spending more time with the patients, he urged the graduating doctors to “empathise with their patients rather than sympathise with them”.
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