Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan on Saturday, 10 October declared that universal access to quality healthcare and medical education is indispensable to achieving the Viksit Bharat vision by 2047, speaking at the Second Convocation of AIIMS Deoghar in Jharkhand. Addressing 173 graduating students, he called on the new doctors to place competence, compassion and character at the centre of their professional lives.

Key Message to Graduates

Radhakrishnan urged the newly conferred doctors to carry their expertise beyond institutional walls and into villages, tribal belts and the most remote corners of the country. He invoked the legacy of Bhagwan Birsa Munda, Sido-Kanhu and Tilka Manjhi — tribal icons of Jharkhand — to underscore that a medical degree is not merely an individual achievement but a social obligation.

'Access to quality healthcare and higher education in every State, district and village is essential to realising the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047,' he said. He stressed that the highest meaning of medical knowledge lies in service to the underserved and vulnerable, calling for integrity, empathy and ethical conduct as non-negotiable standards.

Medical Education Expansion Under Modi Government

Highlighting the growth of healthcare infrastructure, the Vice President noted that the number of medical colleges in India has risen from 387 before 2014 to 846 — more than doubling in just over a decade — under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He described institutions such as AIIMS Deoghar as concrete expressions of the government's commitment to balanced and inclusive development across states and districts.

Women Lead the Graduating Batch

Radhakrishnan noted with evident satisfaction that 132 of the 173 graduating students — more than 76% of the batch — were women. He said this statistic reflected a national shift from mere women's empowerment rhetoric towards tangible women-led development, and underscored the transformative power of education in enabling women to realise their full potential.

Who Attended the Convocation

The ceremony was attended by Jharkhand Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar; Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav; Jharkhand Health Minister Irfan Ansari; Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey; Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Kumar Varma; Deoghar MLA Suresh Paswan; and AIIMS Deoghar President Professor M.V. Padma Srivastava. The high-profile attendance signals the political and institutional importance attached to AIIMS Deoghar as a regional healthcare anchor.

With India's rural healthcare deficit still significant, the Vice President's address sets a clear expectation: that the country's expanding pool of medical graduates must translate into measurable improvements in health outcomes for communities that have historically lacked access.