Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 4: The 10th edition of API (Association of Physicians of India) Textbook of Medicine was released here today by J.P. Nadda, Union Health Minister and Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, at a high profile function attended by some of the world-renowned names in the field of Medicine, country’s top physicians and a galaxy of leading academicians and professors from different streams of medical science.
The newly instituted first-ever Dr. Jivraj Mehta Awards were also presented, among others, to veterans Dr G S Sainani (Mumbai), Dr V Mohan (Chennai), Dr Sidharth Shah (Mumbai), Dr Ashok K Das (Pondicherry) and Dr S K Sharma (AIIMS, New Delhi).
API President Dr Shashank Joshi, past President Dr. A. Muruganathan and President-elect Dr. Rajesh Upadhyay were present on the occasion. Dr YP Munjal, Editor-in-Chief of the API Textbook of Medicine presented a brief resume of the book.
Speaking on the occasion, J.P. Nadda said that the Ministry of Health is always open to suggestions for improving the standards of healthcare in the country and raising the standard of working conditions for medical professionals. Referring to the demand for increasing the budget allocation for health, he said, what is equally important is that the funds which are allocated in the health sector are put to proper utilization for which all of us should hold a responsibility.
Expressing concern over the declining number of family physicians and general physicians, Nadda advocated judicious use of drugs, particularly antibiotics, in order to avoid desperate situations like multi-drug resistance which is on the rise.
Dr. Jitendra Singh, while congratulating the editors of the 10th Edition of API Textbook of Medicine, said that for Indian conditions, we require Indian research and Indian literature and therefore, this textbook written exclusively in the Indian context is a true extension of the tradition of writing Indian medical literature initiated by the first-generation of post-independence stalwarts like Dr. Golwalla in Mumbai, Dr. Sam G.P. Moses in Chennai and Dr. M.M.S. Ahuja in Delhi. However, he said, while the earlier generation of medical authors devoted their research to communicable diseases like tuberculosis, the present generation is constrained to focus on non-communicable diseases like Diabetes and heart-attack. This difference is an outcome of change in the overall scenario in 21st century India,he observed.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, while the Narendra Modi government is always keen to promote and encourage indigenous science and research, yet everything cannot be left to the government alone and therefore, quite a few innovative steps need to be contemplated and suggested by the scientific fraternity itself. In this context, he referred to some of the recent initiatives taken by him which include the decision to send scientists to take academic classes in schools and colleges and to introduce mid-career engagement scheme for women scientists in the event of a change of their place of residence.
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