A Moment of Honor and Reflection

Dr. P. Raghu Ram, & his wife, Dr Vyjayanthi met Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on Tuesday, 7 May 2024 at Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad.

Rather than honouring Hon’ble Prime Minister with a regular shawl, Dr Raghu Ram felicitated him with a specially made “Vastram” that he was gifted from “Linga Bhairavi” Temple in Coimbatore. During the felicitation, Dr Raghu Ram said to Shri Narendra Modi “the principal source of your strength & power emanates from your late Amma’s Blessings. It is  my prayer and wish that the “Vastram” gifted to me from Maa Bhairavi Temple gives you even more energy through the divine Devi Shakthi, in your selfless service to the nation”.

The Prime Minister Modi was touched by these remarks and remarked “You’re a doctor and you are spiritual too”.  Dr Raghu Ram  explained to the Prime Minister about his take on the strength of spirituality and meditation and that he spends two hours in the Prayer Room every day. The Prime Minister was pleasantly surprised to hear this and was in admiration to the spiritual  aspect of Dr Raghu Ram’s life.

Dr Raghu Ram complimented the Prime Minister for having taken the landmark decision to extend the Ayushman Bharat facilities to senior citizens, which promises to be a ‘game changer’ in terms of providing the much needed financial assistance to the ever increasing elderly population in the Country.

As Breast cancer is the commonest cancer affecting women in India, the Prime Minister & Dr Raghu Ram, who is also a Padma Shri & Dr.B.C. Roy awardee, discussed ways in which Breast cancer Care and Cancer Care in general could be improved in the Country. Ensuring that the Population based Breast cancer Screening programme that is being implemented under the auspices of National Health Mission (NHM) becomes even more robust, making available several more Population Based Breast cancer Registries particularly in rural areas and Cancer to be classified as a “Notifiable Disease”, are some of the areas discussed during the Meeting.

The Prime Minister also autographed the Editorial page of the very first quarterly issue of ‘Pink Connexion’, which was brought out ten years ago, in 2014. An innovative initiative Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation & KIMS-USHALAKSHMI Centre for Breast Diseases, Pink Connexion is celebrating 10 positively eventful years (2014 – 2024) and is South Asia’s first & one of its kind Breast Health magazine.

After the meeting, The Prime Minister tweeted about his meeting with Dr Raghu Ram & paid rich tributes to him for his stellar role towards improving Breast Cancer Care in the Country. This tweet went viral and generated more than 1. 1 million views, 31, 000 likes and 4, 200 reposts.