For a comprehensive healthcare programme envisaging complete health for the entire population of India, the healthcare should be integrated with all systems of medicine, according to Dr D Purandeswari, Union minister of state for human resources development.

The protectors of one system should not develop hostility or apathy towards the other, said the minister while delivering the convocation address at Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai.

Like in many other countries, India also needs development of family medicine as a speciality to meet the multifarious health demands of the country. Pointing out that India is doubly disadvantaged due to diseases of poverty like gastro-enteritis and tuberculosis as also diseases of affluence like diabetes and heart disease, the minister said emphasis should be on preventive care which family physicians can very well take care of by timely detection, advice and treatment.

Calling attention to the steep increase in chronic kidney diseases (CKD) due to hypertension, diabetes and an ageing population, Dr Purandeswari said it is time to shift the approach from renal replacement therapy to early detection and prevention of CKD. Emphasizing that hospital based tertiary health care is capital intensive, she said such specialist care should be articulated through primary care.

According to the minister, there are certain gross violations of medical ethics which are posing major challenges to the population and to the health scenario of the country. Female foeticide and female infanticide is widely prevalent in many states in India especially in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. As a result, the boy-girl child ratio is extremely skewed.

Urbanization and commercialization has resulted in an urban rural divide with trained health man power concentrated in cities and the rural areas deprived of medical care. Cost based medical education has brought in commercial value system of young medical graduates resulting in their reluctance to serve the rural poor. These maladies should be rectified so that the legitimate expectations of the talented youth are fulfilled and trained manpower is available to the hitherto un-served areas and underprivileged population in rural areas, the minister added.

The chancellor V R Venkataachalam conferred PhD, Super Speciality, Post Graduate and Under Graduate degrees on 280 students. He also conferred the position of Emeritus Professor of General Surgery on Dr Siva Davamani, a renowned surgeon and teacher.

Earlier in his report, the vice chancellor Dr J S N Murthy said that new programmes will be introduced from the academic year 2013-14 in MD Emergency Medicine, DM Neuro Radiology, DM Neonatology, Post doctoral certificate course in Interventional Radiology, M.Ch. Neuro Surgery and add on diploma and certificate courses for the existing undergraduate and post graduate degree courses offered by Sri Ramachandra University.