NEW DELHI: Union minister Jitendra Singh has been elected as the “life patron” of the Research Society for Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI), the top diabetes research organisation of the country, an official said on Saturday.
The RSSDI, one of the oldest academic organisations of diabetes research and practitioners in India, was founded in 1972 by some of the leading founding fathers of diabetology in the country, including professors Sam G P Moses, M M S Ahuja and V Vishwanath.
According to the official, Singh happens to be the first-ever medical professional from Jammu and Kashmir and possibly the first from north India to have been conferred this honour for his lifetime services to the cause of diabetes research, study and management.
An announcement to this effect was made by the national executive committee of the RSSDI, headed by president Banshi Saboo and attended president-elect Vasanth Kumar from Hyderabad and immediate past president Rajeev Chawla from New Delhi, among others, the official said.
Besides Singh, the other life patrons of RSSDI elected are professors H B Chandalia from Mumbai, Ashok K Das from Punduchery, V Seshiah from Chennai, V Mohan from Chennai and B K Sahay from Hyderabad, he said.
Singh said he was fortunate to have started his medical career as a junior scholar under some of the leading academicians and teachers of medicine in India at that time and he felt humbled to note that he had been able to contribute, if not wholly at least to some extent, to the expectations of his great teachers and professors.
An alumnus of Stanley Medical College, Chennai, Singh was the professor of medicine and diabetes in the Government Medical College, Jammu, before he resigned from government service to join active politics and then continued private practice in Jammu. He also it gave up when he was called to join the Modi government.
Singh, who is the author of around eight books including monograms on diabetes, was also a member of the team which drafted guidelines for management of diabetes in pregnancy, which were later recommended by the WHO to be followed universally.
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