Excelsior Correspondent
KAKRYAL, Oct 18: The lamp lighting and oath taking ceremony of the 2nd batch of B. Sc. Nursing students of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi College of Nursing (SMVDCoN), Kakryal, and the Annual Day function of this College was held here today.
Governor N. N. Vohra, Chairman of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, was the chief guest.
H. L. Maini, Justice (Retd) Parmod Kohli and Maj. Gen. (Retd) Shiv Kumar Sharma, Board Members; Prof. Sanjeev Jain, Vice Chancellor, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University; Jitendra Kumar Singh, Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board; Prasanna Ramaswamy G, Deputy Commissioner, Reasi; Dr. M. K. Kumar and Anshul Garg, Additional CEOs of the Board; and Tahir Bhat, SSP Reasi were present on the occasion.
Speaking at the function, Governor recalled that after he became responsible for the functioning of the Shrine Board, the Members had unanimously agreed with his suggestion that major portion of the resources with which the Board is blessed should be ploughed back, particularly for promoting the provision of education and healthcare to benefit the society at large. In this context, he observed that well over Rs 350 crore had been spent on the establishment of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, well over Rs 300 crore on setting up the Superspeciality Hospital which is progressing well to provide tertiary care to the needy, and Rs. 15.5 crore to establish the Gurukul and Rs 16 crore to start the College of Nursing which is functioning satisfactorily and in the very first year of its functioning its students are showing promising results. He observed that this College, which is imparting quality nursing education, will produce highly qualified and trained nurses who will help in strengthening the functioning of the health sector. Mata Vaishno Devi University has already made a mark in imparting education of high standards to 1675 residential students from J&K and various parts of the country.
The Governor underscored the crucial need for all the stakeholders to intensify effort to ensure that the College of Nursing develops as a front rank institution in nursing and research and for its alumni to serve medical care with distinction.
Governor gave mementos and prizes to the students of the 1st Batch (2016-20) who have excelled in academics and co-curricular activities during the past year.
Governor asked CEO of the Shrine Board to ensure that the School of Architecture and Planning, New Delhi, very early finalizes the Master Plan of the area adjoining the Superspeciality Hospital so that an independent complex for the College of Nursing could be established expeditiously, to be followed by the establishment of the proposed Medical College.
In his welcome address, Maj. Gen. (Retd) Shiv Kumar Sharma, Member of the Shrine Board and Chairman of the Governing Body of the College, gave details of the achievements of the College in academics and co-curricular activities since its establishment last year.
Dr. (Brig.) M. M. Harjai, Administrator of the Nursing College, presented vote of thanks.
Dr. Shailla Cannie, Principal of the Nursing College, administered the Oath to the students and presented the Annual Report of the College for the period 2016-17.
Among those who attended the function included Dr. V. Verma, Dean SMVDU; Dr. Suneet Marwah, Chief Executive Officer, SMVDNSH; Manu Ramachandar, Facility Director; medicos and senior executives of the Superspeciality Hospital, Kakryal; officers and staff of the Shrine Board and the faculty, staff, students of the Nursing College and their parents.