Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh – Chief Guest for 35th Convocation ceremony of Indian College of Physicians and 79th annual conference of the Association of Physicians in India (APICON 2024) – conferred Honorary Fellowship

Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh addressed the 35th Convocation ceremony of the prestigious Indian College of Physicians and 79th Annual Conference of the Association of Physicians in India (APICON 2024) in New Delhi, as its Chief Guest.

On the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh, who is himself a Professor of Medicine & Endocrinology, was also conferred honorary Fellowship of the Indian College of Physicians as a mark of respect to his lifelong dedication to Medicine academics and research.

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public grievances, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, “Attending the Annual conference of Physicians is like a homecoming and is very close to his heart.” He further added that due to his long working schedule he hardly gets time to connect to his fraternity but APICON compensates it by giving an opportunity to reconnect.

While addressing the gathering Dr. Jitendra Singh said, due to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision India is becoming a leader in ‘Preventive Healthcare’, emphasising India’s success on indigenous development of DNA based vaccine by integrating with the private sector and carrying out the world’s largest Covid vaccination.

The Minister said “Technology is taking over and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning tools can be used to harness its potential”. Going further he also shared an experiment he is conducting in his constituency of ‘Mobile Tele-clinic’ by collaborating with hospitals in metros where an ‘AI Doctor’ communicates with the patients. Though he highlighted that these technologies pose challenges but they can be converted to opportunities.

According to Dr. Jitendra Singh, affordable healthcare for all is PM Modi’s guarantee and his government is taking efforts to ensure it. He shared that the government has announced its decision to vaccinate adolescent school-going girls from Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). He also highlighted government’s efforts on reduction of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

During his speech the Union Minister said PM Modi has been highly supportive of Digital Healthcare and the progress of National Digital Health Mission is its testimony. Dr. Jitendra Singh mentioned that as doctors they are in human contact with the patient who feels better after speaking to a doctor. Similarly, technology has enabled us to redress around 2 lakh grievances making India a guiding light in grievance redressal but to maintain human nature and drawing from Happiness Index, we introduced a human feedback mechanism for satisfaction of the complainant.

Highlighting India’s prowess in technology, the MoS Space stated that despite starting late, India’s Chandrayaan-3 was the first spacecraft to reach the South Pole of moon.

Tracing the history of API before India’s Independence, Dr. Jitendra Singh said it has maintained its legacy and grown over the years. The S&T Minister recalled his association with the conference and said he had contributed one chapter every year in the API textbook every year without fail till 2014.

President API, Dr. Milind Nadkar and Dr. R.K Singh, Dean, Indian College of Physicians (ICP), expressed their sincere gratitude to Dr. Jitendra Singh for his august presence and guiding the new fellows for the healthy future of India.