SPEECH OF HON’BLE GOVERNOR OF PUNJAB AND ADMINISTRATOR, UT CHANDIGARH, SHRI BANWARILAL PUROHIT ON THE OCCASION OF BREAST CANCER DAY FUNCTION AT PGIMER CHANDIGARH ON OCTOBER 15, 2022 AT 11.45 AM

I am happy to be present amongst you on the occasion of the Breast Cancer Day function.

Ladies & Gentlemen,

Good health , as an attribute of human well-being precedes every other possession of mankind. Many years ago Lord Buddha observed and I quote, “To keep the body in good health is a duty…..otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear ” (Unquote).

A healthy population exhibits a greater disposition towards seeking education, acquiring knowledge and accessing employment opportunities. For a country like India, whose working population is one of the youngest in the world, attention to the health sector becomes urgent. Progress in this sector is key to India’s future place of prominence in the world. Economic growth that does not go hand in hand with reduction in avoidable mortality and ill health is neither sustainable nor desirable .

In recent years due to changes in lifestyle anddue to stress there has been rise in incidence of cancer cases. Cancer which is symptomatic of the dangers that society will have to encounter, if life styles do not blend with nature has become an important and challenging medical problem with which, the whole world is wrestling.

Rapid urbanisation has led to an increase in harmful behavioural patterns such as increased consumption of hastily cooked low nutritive foods, reduced physical activity and increased exposure to alcohol and tobacco.

Dear sisters and brothers,

According to WHO 2021 data, across the world every minute a woman succumbs to breast cancer – this alone is a reflection of the pervasive nature of the condition.

Incidentally, breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide, with around 2.3 million new cases being diagnosed each year and around 6.85 lakh women succumbing to it annually.

It is unfortunate but true that Breast Cancer is the commonest Cancer affecting the female population all over the world. Earlier, it was presumed that this dangerous disease isnot prevalent in Indian females but presentlyit is rapidly spreading and its incidence has reached number one rank in India also.

The disease is not only physical but is also associated with lot of psychological trauma to the patient.

As the country is moving towards achieving new resolutions in the ‘Amrit Kaal’ of Independence, Government is doing a lot towards the improving health services of the country. Very recently, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi inaugurated the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital & Research Centre is New Chandigarh which is going to benefit the people of Punjab, Haryana as well as Himachal Pradesh.

You all are aware that today at least one third of common cancers are preventable. Therefore, it is imperative that people are made aware of the early signs of cancer so that they can get immediate treatment and increase their chances of survival.

Thus, there is a need to adopt a multi-pronged strategy by all stakeholders to arrest the growing incidence of cancers – from launching an aggressive awareness campaign on the need to lead a healthy lifestyle, to holding regular health screening camps at the community level.

There has to be a public-private partnership in this regard. We all have to act together to prevent cancer and save lives.

Friends,

It always gives me great pleasure to visit PGI which is one of the leading Medical Institutions not only in India but all over the world. PGI is doing exemplary work providing health care facilities to the residents of Chandigarh and people of the neighbouring states. It is drawing patients even from neighbouring countries.

Since its inception in 1962, it has been doing wonderful work, not only in the field of patient care, but also in the fields of research, and teaching. Over the past many decades, PGI has trained and groomed a very large number of specialists and super specialists, practically in all the fields of medical science.

The alumni of PGI in all the fields and branches are scattered all over the world, occupying prestigious positions.

A large part of the credit for this goes to the work culture and ethics instilled in them by the talented and dedicated faculty members of PGI who have mentored them and guided them to walk over the well trodden path ofdedication, hard work and honesty.

Dr. S. M. Bose is one such renowned former faculty member of the Institute and he along with his colleagues has organised this Breast Cancer Day. It is my pleasure to join the event and share your efforts to spread the message of Awareness so that our patients come to the hospital in early stages .

The release of this wonderful book on breast cancer will surely guide and educate the practitioners for breast cancer management and for modern a rationale method of care.

You just heard the brief resume of the book from Prof. Seenu of AIIMS, New Delhi. The book looks very special as earlier to this, there was probably no comprehensive text book on the subject from India . It gives me great pleasure to release this excellent book.

After retirement, Professor Bose has kept himself busy, not only professionally, but also in writing. He has penned reminiscences of his struggles and triumphs, training and innovations, and his moments of doubts and convictions in his autobiography titled ‘ Memoirs of a Surgeon – Beyond Incisions, Blood & Sweat’ . This is an interesting study of the hard work and dedication that is needed in a surgical career.

Many aspects of his life and the man behind the hard taskmaster at PGI are revealed by interesting anecdotes and reflections by his former residents, colleagues and friends.

We have just heard the brief resume of this book from Mr Mac Sareen, a person who is not only an eminent lawyer but a scholar too . It looks to be a very interesting and motivating book. It is my pleasure to release this book too.

I wish that both these books become popular and serve the purpose for which these have been penned down with great care, effort and thinking.

As I said earlier, I am very happy to be here with the distinguished faculty, present and former, and I will request you all to carry on with your excellent work and spread the good name of the Institute and the country as a whole.

I am of firm belief that Indian doctors are second to none and you do not have to follow the foreign doctors blindly, device your own techniques, create your own methods, always keeping in mind our culture, nutritional status, our financial status, in a nut shell the total conditions in which we Indians are living.

In addition to the patient care, I reiterate please do look after the preventive aspect of the diseases, health education of the people so as to get the patients in early stages so that they can be cured of their diseases with minimal complications and remain healthy.

Towards the end I would just like to say that Medicine is a profession respected by all in society. Doctors are live givers who are given a place next to God. Voltaire had very correctly said, and I quote, “Those who are occupied in the restoration of health to others, by the joint exertion of skill and humanity, are above all the great of the earth. They even partake of divinity, since to preserve and renew is almost as noble as to create .” (Unquote)

I am sure our medical fraternity will respect the good faith and trust that people have bestowed upon them. You all are empowered to contribute to the nation, to touch and transform the lives of millions. I hope that you will remain firm in your conviction to the higher objective of selfless service to society.

As Dr. Donald M. Berwick rightly said, “those who suffer need you to be something more than a doctor; they need you to be a healer. And, to become a healer, you must do something even more difficult than putting on your white coat. You must recover, embrace and treasure the shared, frail humanity and the dignity in each and every soul.”

I wish you all success in life and career.

Ladies and Gentlemen Remember, “ the purpose of life is not to be happy, it is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well”.

Thank you,

Jai Hind.