The Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University (ABVMU) will expand beyond its role as an affiliating university by establishing its own medical college with 100 MBBS seats, deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak announced on Wednesday.Governor Anandiben Patel doing the honours at the ABVUM convocation on Wednesday. (HT)Addressing the university’s second convocation ceremony, Pathak said the proposal had already been submitted to the state government and was expected to receive approval shortly. The proposed college will also offer BSc (Nursing) and paramedical courses, besides providing affordable treatment to patients and boosting the state’s pool of trained healthcare professionals.Presiding over the convocation, governor Anandiben Patel directed medical institutions to publicise the Centre’s decision to abolish customs duty on 17 cancer medicines by prominently displaying their old and revised prices to ensure patients benefited from lower costs and were not misled.The governor also sought accountability over the underutilisation of ABVMU’s infrastructure, questioning why its auditorium had hosted only one programme in the past year despite the campus having around 13 halls. She also asked the university to review the functioning of the previous administration over vacant doctors’ flats, unused floors in the administrative building and limited use of the library.Calling for continuous learning, Patel urged graduating doctors to keep pace with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotic surgery and advanced diagnostics, saying competence, discipline and service should remain the pillars of their profession.She also asked every medical university to adopt five villages and every medical college two to three villages to strengthen awareness on vaccination, maternal health, sanitation and preventive healthcare.Vice-chancellor Dr Amit Devgan announced that the university would establish a state-of-the-art skill lab and launch the ‘Skill on Wheels’ initiative, under which two mobile training buses would provide three-day hands-on training programmes for nursing students across Uttar Pradesh. He also announced the constitution of a Medical Research Committee to support research by students and faculty.ABVMU has more than 400 affiliated medical, dental, nursing and paramedical colleges across Uttar Pradesh. The university caters to over 90,000 students and has nearly 10,000 faculty members across its affiliated institutions.11,053 students awarded degrees, 55 honoured with medalsA total of 11,053 students, including 7,618 women (nearly 69% of the graduating batch), received degrees in medical, dental, nursing and paramedical disciplines. The university also honoured 55 meritorious students with gold and silver medals.Degrees were conferred in MBBS, BDS, MD, MS, DM, MCh, postgraduate diploma, BSc (Nursing), Post-Basic BSc (Nursing), NPCC, MSc (Nursing), Bachelor of Audiology, Bachelor of Physiotherapy, BSc (Medical Laboratory Technology) and postgraduate paramedical programmes.Among the medal recipients, 30 students received gold medals and 25 were awarded silver medals.Prominent gold medallists included Ritika Ranjan (Dr Bhimrao Ramji Medical College, Kannauj), Tanu Kumari Bind (GSVM Medical College, Kanpur), Monica Yadav (Saraswati Dental College and Hospital, Lucknow), Dr Anoop Kumar Varshney (Sarojini Naidu Medical College, Agra), Dr Omveer Singh (Command Hospital, Central Command), Dr Shivam Singh (Baba Raghav Das Medical College, Gorakhpur) and Kavya Pandey (Kailash Institute of Nursing, Gautam Buddha Nagar).Notable silver medallists included Lokpriya (RK Institute of Medical Sciences, Bareilly), Anita (College of Nursing, Command Hospital, Central Command, Lucknow), Shivani Deshwal (Kothiwal Dental College and Research Centre), Dr Sagar and Dr Deepa Singh (Sarojini Naidu Medical College, Agra), Dr Akanksha Raj (Motilal Nehru Medical College, Prayagraj), Dr Simran Gupta (Muzaffarnagar Medical College) and Anamika Maurya (Samarpan Institute of Nursing).