India should start Medical Education Program for Humanitarian Crisis Areas with Special Help for Afghan and Palestinian Students

Keeping in view all these factors, India should build further on its earlier contributions by starting a full-fledged medical education program directed mainly at meeting the needs of humanitarian crisis areas. This program, with several linkages, should provide high-quality and highly subsidized education (with supporting residential and other facilities) to both Indian and foreign students, on the understanding that they will serve mainly in humanitarian crisis areas or in other regions where urgent medical needs have remained badly neglected due to specific problems like remoteness, difficult terrain, or extreme poverty. There should also be accompanying research and communication programs related to this. This education program should be not just for doctors but also for nurses and all other categories of medical personnel.

There can be 40% students from India, 15% from Palestine, 15% from Afghanistan and 30% from all other humanitarian crisis areas, particularly from African countries and from Myanmar, as also those students who can be from any part of world as long as they are very keen to serve in humanitarian crisis areas. Girls and women should have adequate representation in this program.

I humbly suggest that this education program be called the Badshah Khan Memorial Medical Education and Research Program, in memory of the great spirit of community service exemplified by Badshah Khan.

At the core of this education program will be a medical college (along with hospital) which in the near future should become a center of excellence for education relating to medical care services in humanitarian crisis areas. I again humbly suggest that this medical college be named after Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis to honor the memory of the great Indian doctor who served in highly remote areas of China under the most difficult conditions, ultimately sacrificing his life for the cause of serving those most in need.

This initiative can go very far in meeting the most important needs of people in very difficult conditions, and its success is likely to lead to other such initiatives, as the needs are such that more such efforts will certainly be needed. This should be taken forward with all sincerity and deep commitment.