Will develop SVIMS on par with AIIMS: Farooq

• Minister N Md Farooq participates in SVIMS convocation
• Prof KN Ganesh underlines the need of research in medical field

Tirupati: The Minister for Medical Education and Minority Welfare N Md Farooq has assured that he will discuss with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on allocating special funds for SVIMS in order to develop it on par with AIIMS.
 
Speaking at the 9th convocation of SVIMS held at Mahati Auditorium here on Saturday, the Minister called upon the graduates, who received their degrees, to work for the betterment of poor people. 

In this convocation, he has presented various awards to 301 persons out of which 21 has received their DM and MCh degrees. 

Indian Institute of Science Education Research (IISER), Tirupati Director Prof KN Ganesh has stressed the importance of research and advanced developments in the field of medicine in his convocation address. 

He observed that though scientists were developing several kinds of tissues and organs, unfortunately only some of them have been implanted successfully in humans whereas every 30 seconds a patient dies from diseases which could be treated with tissue replacement. 

He said that there was enormous growth in the area of biopharmaceuticals where macromolecules like proteins, antibodies and now nucleic acids DNA and RNA are becoming drugs, as effective as widely known small molecules. 

With the human genome sequencing now available, most recent developments in antisense therapy has already led to three approved drugs based on DNA analogues which can be used to address several diseases not amenable for therapy by small molecules. 

Prof Ganesh mentioned that the advent of nanotechnology was making big strides in therapy, diagnosis and inventing new biomaterials for implants, eye surgery etc., 
There was a great potential of modern research in the area of regenerative medicine, he stated. Ganesh opined that by taking away both medicine and engineering from university system placing under ICMR and AICTE, the growth of interdisciplinary research has been affected seriously and pointed out that it is important for more medical people to get into research arena. 

In his report, the Director cum Vice-Chancellor of SVIMS Dr TS Ravikumar has revealed that during 2018-19, 540 students were admitted against 582 seats offered in 68 academic programmes with enrolment of 93 per cent and 1,986 students are at present in the varsity campus which was an all-time high. 

SVIMS achieved a new milestone in April 2018 when it was ranked as the 62nd best university in the country and in the overall category it was ranked at 89. 

It also stood 31st among the 100 top medical universities and 2nd in the state in careers 360 Magazine survey 2018. 

The Institute was also awarded International Training Centre by American Heart Association in December 2017. 

SVIMS Simulation System was inaugurated in February with Rs 6 crore outlay was one of the best of its kind globally. 

The Director said that SVIMS provides unreimbursed free care to underserved patients to the tune of Rs 33.63 crore annually. 

The Director General of Health Services, New Delhi Dr S Venkatesh lauded SVIMS for reporting patient quality metrics in public domain website which was a first of its kind in India. 

He envisioned that SVIMS becoming a model for health systems through innovations in education, patient-oriented research, population health and service excellence. 

TTD Chairman P Sudhakar Yadav also spoke. SVIMS governing council members, faculty and others took part.