KUALA LUMPUR: The new School of Medicine at the University of St Andrews in Scotland has been named the B.C. Sekhar School of Medicine.

The new STG40 million (RM208 million) state-of-the-art school bears the name of Tan Sri Dr B.C. Sekhar, a former chairman of the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia. The school, to open in 2010, will be home to the university's medicine and science departments.

Sekhar's youngest son, Datuk Vinod Sekhar, the founder and chairman of the Sekhar Foundation and the Petra Group, unveiled a plaque at the school during a special dedication ceremony recently. He said his father loved creating solutions for problems that ailed the world.

"This is what the School of Medicine and Science is about. It's a school that has a fully integrated scientific approach to research which will allow for faster solutions to be created," he said.

Also present were Vinod's eldest brother, Jayan, and former prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman's only grandson and a senior executive of Petra, Tunku Muinuddin Putra.
The Sekhar Foundation has also financed a STG8 million scholarship fund for Southeast Asian students who wish to study at the school.

The Petra Group and St Andrews also have a joint venture in the area of biophotonics.