Centennial celebrations: Alumni continue to be pillars of support for Amritsar GMC
Some of these doctors, who are part of the Amritsar Medical and Dental Alumni Association of North America (AMDAANA), are delivering lectures to the students and faculty of GMC regarding their specialities, besides taking part in various other functions, like academic and sports activities
As many as 45 alumni of Amritsar Government Medical College (GMC), who have come all the way from North America, to attend three-day-long centennial celebrations of the north India’s oldest health institution continue to be the pillar of support.
Some of these doctors, who are part of the Amritsar Medical and Dental Alumni Association of North America (AMDAANA), are delivering lectures to the students and faculty of GMC regarding their specialities, besides taking part in various other functions, like academic and sports activities.
These NRI doctors have also been at the forefront of donating funds for running several projects helping to improve the facilities and technology at the institution.
The college, which was established as a medical school in 1864 in Lahore (then British India) and shifted to Amritsar in 1920, has served as a nursery that has given teachers to various institutions including the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, and the All India Institute of Medical Science and Research (AIIMS), New Delhi. The school was upgraded to a medical college in 1943.
The college spread over 165 acres, is affiliated with the Baba Farid University of Medical Sciences (BFUMS), Faridkot. The college is celebrating the anniversary of its 100 years of establishment from November 17 to 20.
Dr Satwant Singh, who is also a founding member of AMDAANA, said that the association are running four projects at the GMC. He was given a lifetime achievement award by chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday.
“We are presently running four projects at the GMC. The first one is to provide scholarships to 40 students every year. We are giving ₹35,000 to each student under the project. Secondly, we have been providing free wifi facility on the campus since 2013,” Dr Satwant said who is also chairman of the AMDAANA task force.
He said their third project is named Computer Assisted Learning Classroom. “There are 24 computer systems in the lab and one computer can be used by two students. Earlier, experiments used to be conducted on forges. Now, using this lab, the students are conducting simulations of experiments. Our fourth project is a modern gym, which was established last year. We have also installed the best available table tennis at the gym,” Dr Satwant, who specialised in internal medicine and nephrology, said.
Those who are attending the centennial events from AMDAANA include its president Dr Jasbir Rangi, and executive member Dr Raveen Kaur Sidhu. “Around 50 AMDAANA doctors had registered to attend the event. However, 45 of them have come. Six of us are speakers,” Dr Satwant said.
Dr Satwant has been coming to his alma mater since 2004.
He further said his fellow Dr Ronald Dieckmaan also wanted to attend the centennial event with his five-member team, but, somehow, he couldn’t make it. “Dr Ronald and I do faculty development sessions. Dr Ronald was to donate around 250 copies of software used for learning medical and diagnoses. Now, we will transfer the software copies online around a month thereafter,” he said.
“AMDAANA has collected US 1 million dollars in the last 20 years. Out of the total collected money, we have spent $6,50,000 for improving better health facilities at GMC,” he said.
