Research and innovate, says Tharoor

 

Chennai: Medical graduates should go beyond classroom learning and take up research for improving healthcare in India so that the country’s demographic dividend of young workforce does not go wasted in sickrooms, Union MoS (HRD) Shashi Tharoor has said. It could be a ‘demographic disaster’ if this challenge is not met, he said while addressing the 18th convocation of Sri Ramachandra University here on Wednesday.

 

The minister pointed out that while healthcare had taken great strides in India, there was “still a dark side” with the shift towards lifestyle ailments from communicable diseases, lack of healthcare infrastructure and high cost of treatment due to inadequate insurance cover—86% of the patients in India have to pay out of their pockets as compared to 53% in China and a mere 20% in USA.

 

“Research can change all this”, he said, recalling a recent innovation that he came across—an ophthalmologist working with the poor in the slums revolutionizing eye care by coming up with an eye test that did not require dilation. While Tharoor gave away gold medals to distinguished students certificates.