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

Many areas affected deeply by humanitarian crisis urgently need medical services. Some international organizations like Doctors without Borders are making great efforts for this. Some countries like Cuba and brave doctors from there have made a very noble contribution to this task. We salute all these doctors and health personnel. India has been making its share of contributions in parts of Afghanistan, Palestine and other places.

Now it is time for India to consolidate its earlier contributions by starting a special and bigger medical education program for meeting the needs of humanitarian crisis areas with special emphasis on medical students from humanitarian crisis areas, particularly from Afghanistan and Palestine.

While all doctors and health personnel who wish to serve people in distress can make a great contribution, perhaps the best contribution can be made by those who are particularly trained for meeting the needs of conflict and disaster zones and refugee camps. What is more, doctors who come from humanitarian crisis zones and countries and decide to serve there can make a particularly valuable and long-term contribution, compare to those who go only for short periods.

However a sad reality is that medical students from these areas, no matter how brilliant and sincere, are unable to complete their medical education due to many-sided difficulties and problems. The difficulties faced by Palestinian students are truly formidable. The problems faced by Afghan medical students studying in Pakistan have increased in recent times.

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 areas where urgent medical needs have remained badly neglected due to some special problems like remoteness, difficult terrain or extreme poverty etc. 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.

May I humbly suggest that this education program can be called the Badshah Khan Memorial Medical Education and Research Program, in memory of the great spirit of serving community as seen in the life of 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. May I again humbly suggest that this medical college should be named after Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis to honor the memory of the great doctor from India who served in highly remote areas of China in the most difficult conditions, ultimately also sacrificing his life for the cause of serving those most in need.

This initiative can go very far in meeting 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.

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Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Man over Machine, Protecting Earth for Children and A Day in 2071. His website is bharatdogra.in and his YouTube channel is Bharat Dogra| Save Earth Campaign.

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