Bangalore: St John's Medical College golden jubilee celebrations from Aug 7
 
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
 
Bangalore, Aug 3: St John’s Medical College, Bangalore, which has emerged as one the best medical collegesis in the country, is all set to celebrate its golden jubilee this year with many events and programmes starting from August 7.

The college was started in 1963 by the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India (CBCI), New Delhi, with the lofty objective of training doctors to work in the underserved areas of India.

Karnataka Governor H D Bhardwaj would be inaugurating the year-long golden jubilee celebrations on August 11 with dedication of four golden jubilee projects comprising St John’s Oncology Centre for treatment of cancer patients, Unit of Hope for treatment of children with disabilities, renovation of the auditorium and students’ dining hall.

Dr Aaron Friedman, Dean of Medical School, Minnesota University, USA, will be the guest of honour while Most Rev Francis Kallarkal, Archbishop of Verapoly and Chairman of St John’s Governing Board, will be presiding over the golden jubilee year inaugural function being held at the St John’s Medical College Lawns.

Infosys Technologies Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy will be the guest of honour at the public function to mark the golden jubilee year programmes on August 9, which will have Most Rev Salvatore Pennacchio, Apostolic Nuncio in India, at the chief guest and His Eminence Baselios Cardinal Cleemis Catholicos, CBCI Vice President I, will preside. The Apostolic Nuncio in India Most Rev Salvatore Pennacchio will be the main celebrant at the solemn Eucharistic celebration prior to the public function.
 

1500 Alumni To Attend
 
The actual golden jubilee year celebrations will commence with Alumni Reunions on August 7 and 8, which will be participated by over 1500 almni from all over the world, including nearly 300 religious sisters, according to Rev Dr Lawrence D’Souza, Chairman of the Organising Committee and Director of St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences.

The Alumni will be participating in the sports and cultural events organised as part of the golden jubilee year programme, he said pointing out that the Alumni occupied key positions in leading medical institutions all over the world including McMaster University, King’s College, Emory University, Mayo Clinic, University of Nottingham etc.

Adressing a news conference on Saturday, Fr D’Souza said two other important events forming part of the Golden Jubilee on August 9 will be the special orations by Dr Sr Lucian, President of Sister Doctors’ Forum in India, on 'Contribution of St John’s to the promotion of health and prevention of illeness in the medically underserved areas’ and Dr Salim Yusuf, Endowed Chair at CVS Research for Heart and Stoke Foundation, Ontario, on 'Contribution of St John’s to the promotion of medical and clinical research.’

There will be two other orations by Dr K M Venkat Narayan, Emory University, who is a world-renowned authority on diabetes and public health, and Dr Mario Vaz, a former student and staff of St John’s Medical College, on the history of St John’s, along with a programme for felicitation of all retired teachers.
 
“The golden jubilee year will be a befitting occasion for the institution, its students, staff and alumni to celebrate this glorious journey and a recognition to the yeomen service rendered by the staff and students in the field of healthcare,” said Fr D’Souza, adding: ''This is an occasion for reflection, re-evaluation and setting new goals and missions to meet contemporary social needs in a rapidly changing country.
 

Intake Increase from 60 to 150
 
With clamour for admission in the college over the years from different parts of the country, Fr D’Souza said the intake for admissions for the MBBS course was proposed to be increased from the present 60 to 150 from next academic year.
 
“We will submit a detailed proposal to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) by this year end and Medical Council of India is expected to inspect availabilities facilities in coming February,” he explained.

He said the college and its hospital had the necessary infrastructure to accommodate the increased intake. ''We wish to fully utilise the teaching material and infrastructure available on the campus,” the Director said.

The college conducts all India entrance test for admission of MBBS students and the practice was started from the very first batch with examinations conducted in Bangalore, Mangalore, Belgaum, Trivandrum, Chennai, Vijayawada, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Nagpur, Ranchi, Allahabad, Kolkata, Shillong and Delhi besides Hyderabad, Ernakulam, Panaji, Mapusa and Colombo, which were added as examination centres later.
 

Compulsory Rural Service for Docs From 1973
 
''One of the distinguishing quality about the St John’s Medical College is the reservation of 15 seats for religious sisters every year, who will be permanently serving in rural areas,” explained Fr Glen Mascarenhas, adding: ''The college has made 2-year compulsory rural service bond for all students from 1973 itself.”

Over 250 religious sister almni were permanently serving in rural and remote hospitals, including disturbed areas in Kashmir, Jarkhand and north-east, Fr D’Souza said. As many as 25 per cent of the graduates were permanently settled and working in undeserved and remote areas including Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Kashmir, tribal belts of Orissa, Assam, Meghalaya and Andaman and Nicobar islands.

The college offers graduate, postgraduate, diploma and super specialty degrees recognised by the RGUHS, said Dr Prem Pais, Dean.

Dr Ranganth Nayak said the college has specialized facilities like kidney dialysis, critical care, neonatal intensive care, renal and corneal transplantation, open heart surgery, cardiac catherisation lab. It offers super-speciality training courses in D.M. (Cardiology), M.Ch (Plastic Surgery), M.Ch (Paediatric Surgery), D.M. courses in Neonatology, Nephrology, Neurology, Endocrinology and Gastroenterology and M.Ch courses in Urology and Neosurgery.
 

First Medical College to Teach Medical Ethics
 
''St John’s is the first medical college to include teaching of medical ethics as part of MBBS curriculam and has set up a full-fledged department of medical ethics,” he said,

The college will be opening a new e-library facility and establish a clinical skill laboratory to meet the basic and highly advanced training requirements of students and faculty during the year.

The present college building came up in 1968 and was inaugurated by late Dr Zakir Hussain, the former president of India. The college gets students from various parts of the globe and also receives externship students from countries like USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, Sweden, UAE, Oman and Malaysia.

Equipped with a full-fledged Department of Medical Education, the college conducts regular training programmes for doctors from several medical colleges across the country. It also has a research society conducting round-the-year training and programmes in research methodology.

St John’s is one of the few leading medical colleges in the country to have academic and scientific collaborations with institutions like National Institutes of Health, International Atomic Energy Agency, Wellcome Foundation, WHO, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology and Indian Institute of Science, said Dr Prem Pais.

The college recently received the Singh-Obama Award and got itself connected with the Harvard School of Public Health under the Harvard-India Nutrition Initiative.

Dr Prem Pais said that the college has 1250 bed teaching hospital and nearly 2500 patients receive treatment daily. About 18000 patients received various treatments, including surgeries per year.