The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee attended the first convocation of Swami Rama Himalayan University at Dehradun today (April 1, 2016).

Speaking on the occasion, the President congratulated the medical, nursing and management students who received their degrees from Swami Rama Himalayan University today. He said that hThis motto takes on even greater meaning when one witnesses that healing and healthcare system in our country must always stand on moral high ground. The prime focus of such a system should be the welfare of patients only. We need dedicated nurses, doctors and managers to make healthcare more scientific and efficient.

The President said that Swami Rama was a multi-faceted personality with great love for his motherland and the place of his birth. Though anointed as the Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham at a young age, he renounced this high spiritual post in order to pursue his yogic-meditative lifestyle. He established holistic health as a new discipline that had much to offer to allopathic medicine. At Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust, he stressed upon the importance of amalgamating the wisdom of the East with the modern technologies of the West.

The President said that it was heartening to note that what started twenty five years ago - with an OPD in a tin shed and a small house for rural development - has bloomed into a beautiful township and a university. Today, the Swami Rama Himalayan University provides quality higher education in medicine, para-medical sciences, nursing, engineering and management. It serves the rural masses comprising more than 1,200 villages of Uttarakhand. It focuses on health, education, and income generation programmes. It provides tertiary care services through its 750 bedded multi-specialty hospital and state-of-the-art 250 bedded Cancer centre.

This release issued 1740 hrs.