Hyderabad, May 2022: Apollo Medical College (AMC), Hyderabad; hosted the White Coat Ceremony, for the Class of 2021 students, at the RNR Auditorium, Jubilee Hills, today. Chief Guest Dr. Raghu Ram Pillarisetti, OBE – Order of British Empire; Padma shri; Dr B C Roy Awardee and Founder Director, KIMS – Ushalakshmi Center for Breast Diseases, KIMS Hospitals, Hyderabad; presented the White Coats to the students on the occasion. Ms. Aparna Reddy, COO, AMC; Dr Dilip Mathai, Distinguished Professor & Advisor, AMC; along with the faculty from the Institute and parents of students, were present to catch sight of the momentous occasion.
White Coat Ceremony is a memorable experience for students taking their initial steps into the noble profession of Medicine, by joining the medical school. One hundred and fifty students of the Decennial batch of the Apollo Medical College, were welcomed into the medical community by the faculty and were ceremonially “cloaked” with their white aprons. The students dressed elegantly in white, later took the Hippocrates oath, traditionally sworn at graduation.
Dr. Raghu Ram speaking on the occasion said, what Hippocrates said 2400 years is relevant even today. You will be seeing patients from day one, consider them as human beings with emotions and not as a subject matter, if you do that you won’t go wrong. You have entered a noble profession, the noblest of all the professions that exist in this world, because we get an opportunity to touch lives every moment. One of the important components of the Hippocrates oath is to keep the good of the patient as the highest priority. Never ever under estimate the trust the patient places in you. The patient comes to you when he is in pain and discloses information which he wouldn’t have even shared with his family members and he exposes his body to a complete stranger to be examined, operated upon, who else gets this honour, even god may not have this privilege. Nothing matters more than ethics is what one should remember, if you are ethical people will not point a finger at you. Also, practice of art and science of medicine is not meant to be competitive. It should be ingrained in you that you should not be part of the rat race. As a doctor you take away the pain and suffering from them and bring happiness to them. We are the most revered profession in this country and the world. There are many reasons for which people become a doctor and the important one is your own calling. You should never lose your quest for knowledge, lifelong learning is very important. You should continuously update your knowledge and skill. Communication is critical at every point of your career and we should focus on that. We should generate that rapport with the patient, we should communicate with them for long and the best diagnosis is possible that way. Always encourage second opinion, when someone comes with a second opinion encourage them, if the patient doesn’t come back to you, don’t get disheartened, he would have his own reasons to not to come back, if you are good, someone else will come to you. Being a Doctor is a great honour and responsibility. You should also appreciate that you can cure only sometimes, you can provide relief many times, but as a doctor you can comfort patient always, even the terminally ill patients get comforted. Some of the human values a doctor should imbibe are courtesy, compassion, honesty, humility sympathy, empathy and an element of sacrifice.
Dr Dilip Mathai said, you are some of the cream of the meritorious students, you got a seat here because of your excellence in studies, don’t let that momentum go away from you and keep performing and excel.
