Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi stressed the need to focus attention on expand education and medical facilities in the hilly areas. Speaking as the chief guest at Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT), Jollygrant, Qureshi said that students of medicine should always remember the oath they took to serve humanity. He called upon the students to serve in remote hill areas after they qualified as doctors.

Qureshi said that education as well as the medical profession was being taken over by commercialisation and this was a cause for concern. “Even today, hill areas are deprived of medical facilities. All efforts should be made to rectify this.”

He said that we should follow the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and work to build a modern India. “Primary education is the foundation for the development of any nation .We must pay attention to primary education and primary school teachers.”

The Governor gave away the awards for academic and literary excellence to the students.

He paid tributes to Swami Rama, the founder of HIHT. Dr Vijay Dhasmana, Member, Presidential Body of HIHT, welcomed the governor and said that Swami Rama had set up the hospital in 1989 for the poor. In 1994, it was set up the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences which is a deemed university now. Prof Vijendra Chauhan, VC of HIHT Deemed University, proposed the vote of thanks.

Other dignitaries including Rishikesh MlA Premchand Aggrawal, ex-Cabinet Minister SS Sajwan, ADC Dr YS Rawat, faculty, students and other staff of HIHT were present there.