Gujarat is famous for giving a lead, whether it is a struggle for independence or giving the nation supreme, corruption free, dedicated and patriotic leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and now Narendra Modi, the most visionary, honest to a fault and extremely capable PM in the history of independent India who has put the nation on international stage as one of the most dynamic, forward-looking, corruption free nation for the multi-conglomerates to do business with.
No wonder most leading international motor-vehicle manufacturers like BMW, Honda, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai and many more have moved to India, especially to Gujarat, making Gujarat a hub for the industry. Who can forget how CM Modi while leading Gujarat facilitated Tata Motors to move to Gujarat, providing land and planning permission within a week while West Bengal failed to do so in two years.
Now Gujarat is moving in the same direction as far as education is concerned, especially medical education, increasing Medical colleges (MC) granting MBBS degrees from six during CM Modi’s reign to nine today.
It was CM Modi who brought the scheme, “Ayushiaman Bharat” (Life-longevity India) which has now become a reality. These colleges are located in different cities, different part of Gujarat to make them easily accessible to local population.
The leading names that readily come to mind are Pramukswami MC (Anand), Smt. NHL Municipal MC and B.J. Medical College (Ahmedabad), Pundit Dindayal Upadhya MC (Rajkot) M. P. shah MC (Jamnagar) and many more, spread throughout Gujarat.
Besides these colleges, there are many colleges that educate aspiring doctors in Ayurvedic medicine, the old and tested knowledge based on traditional herbal medicine going back thousands of years, to Lord Rama and Lord Krishna’s time, along with traditional western medicine awarding MBBS degrees, thus keeping the old tradition alive and in the main stream.
No wonder Gujarat is fast becoming one of the favourite destinations for medical treatment for people from all over the world, especially from Middle East and Africa. Gujarat is catching up fast with Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi who all had early start but being late arrival or new-comer has its own advantages, as Gujarat has one of the most modern facilities in such colleges who have come on the scene during the last decade or two.
Let us hope that Gujarat becomes a leading educational establishment that will give Bharat and the Western world, highly qualified doctors, surgeons and specialists, especially our Britain where doctor shortages are chronic in our under-funded NHS. It is a sad irony that advanced economy like ours could not educate enough doctors at home and have to depend on developing nations to fill the vacancies, thus depriving developing nations of their skill a brain drain they could least afford.
Bhupendra M. Gandhi
By email
