Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said today that doctors must interact with patients and their families with compassion and noted that medical facilities and healthcare must be affordable for common man.

Naidu said the doctors should adopt the approach of giving healing touch to their patients.

"Such approach will give the patients a healing touch and help them feel better during their treatment," the vice president said while addressing the first convocation of the AIIMS, Bhubaneshwar here.

Referring to late former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had laid the foundation stone for AIIMS, Bhubaneshwar in 2003, Naidu said, "It was an attempt to reduce regional imbalance in healthcare and tertiary sector."

He said the focus should be more on rural healthcare and strengthening of medical infrastructure in the country.

"Doctors, nurses and medical workers should also be well trained to cope with new frontiers of medicine, treatment and research. This will bridge the gap between rural and urban healthcare facilities," he said after presenting medals and prizes to meritorious students of the first batch of MBBS and BSC (nursing).

The vice president also suggested that the Centre and the state government should make three years posting of doctors mandatory in rural areas in order to get next promotion.

This may help the people living in remote and inaccessible areas, he said.

"Young medical students must serve rural people after completion of their graduation first. It will provide them a plethora of rich experience about the lifestyle of rural and poor people who can be educated and guided to lead a better lifestyle through counselling," he added.

Naidu advised the doctors and young medical students to imbibe the qualities of "share and care" which has been the core of Indian ethos and philosophy.

He said doctors should educate patients and attendants about the huge amount of money involved in cancer treatment and how to lead a physically active, better and healthy lifestyle by refraining from "fast food and junk food habits".

The vice president said the Centre is taking measures to bring down the expenditure on health.

Naidu called upon the doctors to adopt a service oriented approach while discharging their duties as medical practitioners.

He said the job of a doctor does not end by giving medicines and said they must also advise and guide people on preventive care.