Nostalgia time at AMCH
- Diamond jubilee begins today with big bash OUR CORRESPONDENT
Sir John Berry White Medical School, which now houses a state government
office. Picture by Pronib Das Dibrugarh, Oct. 31: Its been six decades since
S.D. Barua, Amal Chandra Baruah and Benu Dhar Borgohain stepped into the Assam
Medical College and Hospital for the first time, propelled by the desire to
quickly put on that pristine white apron and walk around with the stethoscope
dangling from their necks.
That was a new beginning not only for the three youths part of the first
batch of the medical college but also for the institution itself.
Tomorrow, when the diamond jubilee celebrations of the institution gets under
way in Dibrugarh, the trio will be back in their alma mater to lead the pack
once again. The three veterans have been invited to participate in the cultural
procession slated for November 3.
They represent the history of this institution and we will be honoured to
have them back among us at the start of the diamond jubilee. They are in their
eighties but they still have the spirit that helped this institution shine
through all these decades, said Dr Ranjeet Kumar Baruah, head of the
department of orthopaedics and a member of the organising committee.
S.D.Barua retired as the director of health services, while Amal C. Baruah
retired as head of paediatrics at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital and
Benu D. Borgohain as the superintendent of the same hospital.
For doctors who studied and still work in the AMCH, the diamond jubilee will
be as much an occasion to introspect as to celebrate.
As someone associated with this institution for the past 20 years as a
student and a doctor I have seen the ups and downs. There was a period when
long-term goals were discarded in the pursuance of short-term ones but we are
now back on track. There was a time when the central quota of seats would
remain vacant because of misgivings outside the state about the social and
academic environment here. But there has been a turnaround of late, said Dr
Gourangie Gogoi, an assistant professor in the department of community medicine
and a member of the publicity committee.
The 3-km diamond jubilee march will begin at the main gate to the AMCH and
pass through Seujpur, Naliapool and Grahambazar before returning to the
starting point. Arjuna award-winning athlete Bhogeswar Baruah will be the chief
guest and also participate in the run that will precede the procession.
The organisers have arranged for an open jeep to carry the three veterans
from the first batch. Sixty girl students dressed in traditional Assamese
mekhela-chador will carry earthen pots during the procession, signifying the
completion of six decades.
The procession will feature representatives of all batches that have passed
out from this institution, said Dr T.R. Borborah, the principal-cum-chief
superintendent of the AMCH and the chairman of the organising committee.
The AMCHs real journey began in 1900 when a British army surgeon, Berry
White, initiated the establishment of a medical school in Dibrugarh.
It was in 1947 that Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi, the first chief minister of
Assam, upgraded it to a medical college. The institutions chequered history
will be displayed in the form of an archive of historical documents and
photographs in the Jubilee Hall at the site of the old medical school, Dr
Gogoi said.
The building will also have lodging facilities for attendants of patients
from far-flung areas of the region.
(The Telegraph,01.11.2007)
---------------------------------
Get the freedom to save as many mails as you wish. Click here to know how._______________________________________________
assam mailing list
assam@assamnet.org
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
