Aim for Nobel Prize, solve global health crises: Vice President to medical students
Mangalore Today News Network
Vijayawada, Oct 26, 2026: Vice President C. P. Radhakrishnan on Monday urged medical students to identify pressing global health challenges and develop innovative solutions, expressing his hope that a student from Dr NTR University of Health Sciences would one day win a Nobel Prize.
Addressing the university’s 40th anniversary celebrations in Vijayawada, Radhakrishnan encouraged students to go beyond research and scientific pursuits to find solutions to health problems affecting humanity.
“You should become not only research students or scientists, but also identify the health problems of humanity and find solutions. The day should come when someone from our NTR University wins the Nobel Prize. That is my wish,” he said.
Emphasising the importance of advanced research, the Vice President said technology must serve human welfare. Its application in medicine, he added, should be guided by scientific validation, patient safety, data privacy and ethical responsibility.
He cautioned that technological progress could never replace the compassion, judgement and human connection central to the doctor-patient relationship. Every medical record, he reminded students, represents a human being.
Radhakrishnan also paid tribute to former united Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. T. Rama Rao (NTR), after whom the university is named. He recalled NTR’s generosity in addressing Chennai’s drinking water crisis by supplying water to the city where he had lived for a long time.
As the university enters its 40th year, the Vice President called for greater emphasis on research, interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation and public health. He said bringing diverse health-related disciplines under one academic umbrella had strengthened healthcare education and promoted the systematic development of professional training.
Over the past four decades, the university has played an important role in advancing health sciences education in Andhra Pradesh, he said.
He also urged doctors and the public to raise awareness about the dangers of drug abuse.
Expressing confidence in India’s goal of becoming a developed nation by 2047, Radhakrishnan described the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’ as a major national objective. He said inclusive development must reach every state, district and village.
Highlighting the expansion of medical education under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over the past 12 years, he said the number of medical colleges had more than doubled, from 387 before 2014 to 846 at present.
The number of MBBS seats had increased from 51,000 to more than 1.4 lakh, while postgraduate medical seats had risen from 31,000 to over 86,000, he said.
India now offers more than 2.25 lakh undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats, the Vice President added.