President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) said that the primary objective of the medical profession should be to serve humanity, urging doctors to embrace sensitivity and compassion while striving for excellence in their profession.

She was addressing the first convocation of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh.

Ms. Murmu said the empathy and compassionate behaviour of doctors gives courage to the patient, apart from their knowledge and skills that treat the patient. She said that for the people of the country, AIIMS signifies medical treatment by the nation’s most competent doctors.

Serve in remote areas

Noting that medical professionals often hesitate to serve in remote and inaccessible areas, she said the nation expects doctors graduating from prestigious institutions like AIIMS to rise above this mindset. The President said she too hailed from a remote and challenging environment.

Making an impassioned appeal to the graduating medical students, she said that true satisfaction comes only from selfless service. She urged them to cultivate love and a sense of kinship for the underprivileged people of rural and hilly regions.

Bringing healthcare facilities to people at the last rung of society should be the primary mission of their lives, the President told students.

Top-tier education

She said that many AIIMS have been established across various parts of the country with the objectives of enabling a larger number of people to benefit from this trust and allowing more meritorious students to receive top-tier medical education and serve the nation.

The President said that AIIMS Bilaspur bears a special responsibility due to its geographical location. Delivering quality healthcare services on time to populations residing in the remote areas of Himachal Pradesh is a multi-faceted challenge.

She said that AIIMS Bilaspur must emerge as a premier centre for advanced tertiary healthcare, even as she highlighted the need to strengthen healthcare services in hilly areas by leveraging telemedicine, specialist consultations for remote areas, training of medical personnel, and the use of the latest technologies.

(With PTI inputs)