Our Inspirations
Dr Chandrakant Umakant Patil
Dr Chandrakant Umakant Patil was one of the team members of DFY's first humanitarian response team deployed in Bihar responding to flood disaster in 2008-09. While our team was organizing health camp lightning struck us on 21st September 2008. Unfortunately, Dr. Chandrakant happened to be on its path and succumbed to his injuries.
Chandrakant was a small town boy with extra-ordinary determination and dedication, who was inspired by the idea that every small contribution counts. Through his immeasurable and ultimate sacrifice, he left an indelible impression on the people who knew him. Born in a small village called Saturkhe in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, he had humble origins. His father worked in a textile mill and mother was a housewife. The family had to move to several different villages and towns of state due to transferable nature of his father's job. His childhood is speckled with illustrations of determination to learn and excel in the face of all odds. For instance, most of his schools were located at distances of several kilometers away and the path to them was covered with jungles and sewers. Young Chandrakant was not daunted by these obstacles and continued his education despite the circumstance. Unfortunately, at one point (Sakharkheda village, Buldhana district), the school was so far from the family's dwelling that he was forced to discontinue his schooling for two years. For most other kids of his age this would have marked the end of returning to formal education. But Chandrakant was made of a different mettle. As soon as the family moved to a different town (Pusad taluka in district Yavatmal), he was immediately enrolled in school. So eager was Chandrakant to make up for his lost education and so impressive he was in his scholastic performance in this new school that his teachers asked him to appear for the combined exam of standards II and III! He did so and came out with flying colors. Thus, he managed to partially make up for the years that he loses.
However, to his dismay, the family move again to a different town (Khurajgaon village in the Saoner taluka of district Nagpur. The place was much bigger and more modern as compared to the other places where the family had stayed. In School, many adjustments had to be made by Chandrakant. Recruiter He realized that he was lagging behind some students in the school who were used to the advanced curriculum. At one point, the disparity and the efficacy became so overwhelming that these teachers requested his parents to consider enrolling him in one of the lower standards to given sufficient time to cope-up with the curriculum. However, the manner in which the family tackled the situation is a case in point. His father wanted him to get another chance. He asked the school authorities to grant him a time of just 7 days to tackle the inadequacies. He promised that if they did not find him up to the mark at the end of day 7 then he would voluntarily enrol him in standard 1. Chandrakant was profoundly influenced by this episode and by the self-belief of his father. Together, they managed to put up a performance that satisfied the school authorities. Chandrakant learnt a great lesson from the episode. His father specifically advised him that he had all the potential and therefore, he should not consider himself lesser than others in the class. After that, there was no looking back for this young man of simple yearnings. Subsequently, he went on to secure distinctions in every subject that he studied in the school. In fact, he switched to English medium school and excelled there as well. He narrowly missed the merit list of standard 10th board exams. However, he more than made up for it by securing rank 15 in the merit list of standard 12th board exams. The icing on the cake was the first rank that he secured in the medical entrance test. He completed his medical school from BJ Medical College, Pune and graduated with first class marks.
After completing medical school and a rigorous internship at Dhule, Chandrakant join the post of a medical officer and served the poor at the Kalambhir primary health center. For further training, he secured admission into his dream course in the Department of Preventive & Social Medicine at the Seth GS Medical College & KEM hospital, the twin institutions which are often rated as the Mecca of medical education. During the second year of his course, he came in touch with Ravikant Singh, who was senior to him in the department. When Ravikant decided to take a plunge towards helping the flood- sticken populace of Bihar, Chandrakant was the first doctor who pledged unequivocal support notwithstanding the circumstances that were heavily stacked against them. This is notable since for most other medicos completing the chosen specialty of medicine often takes precedence over almost everything else in the world. On the other hand, here was a man who had swum against the tide to reach his destination and yet did not hesitate to sacrifice it all for the welfare of his brethren. True to his words, Chandrakant took the lead in mobilizing support and manpower for the flood relief operation. In fact, he was part of the first team that set sail for the uncharted territory. In Bihar, Chandrakant went about his task like a possessed man. He extended medical relief to hundreds of patients at a relief camp at Kataiya, Supaul supported by noted filmmaker Mr. Prakash Jha. However, as they say, God takes soonest those he love the best. On the fateful night of September 21, 2008, at around 10.30 PM, Chandrakant was out in the open along with his colleagues after a hard day's work. There he was struck by lightning and suffered severe burns and ultimately succumbed to them.
Without doubt, it marked the most poignant day in the history of DFY. It will not be too much to say that it was a water-shed in the history of the organization. The fact that one of the members had become a martyr in the struggle for the cause further galvanized others into working towards the mission with renewed zest and enthusiasm. And rest, as they say, is history. In recognition of his incomparable and selfless sacrifice, we the members of DFY salute him and regard him as our guiding angel. It will be a fitting tribute to Dr. Chandrakant Patil if we can accomplish the work that he had started – if not in the same measure then at least in the same spirit.
Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis
Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis was one of the five physicians dispatched to China to provide medical assistance during the second Sino-Japanese war. Widely revered for his exemplary dedication and perseverance, he is continued to be remembered as the champion icon of Sino-Indian friendship and collaboration. Dwarkanath was born to a lower middle class family with two brothers and five sisters, in Solapur district of Maharashtra, and studied medicine at the Seth G. S. Medical College, University of Mumbai. In 1938, a medical team of five doctors was dispatched by the Indian Medical Mission Team to China. Only 28 at that time, he was selected as one of the youngest member of the team. The team sans Dr. Kotnis returned to India safely. He stayed there for 5-yrs working incessantly in mobile clinics to treat wounded soldiers. Taking due cognizance of his self-less service and commitment, he was soon made the director of Dr. Bethune International Peace Hospital. Subsequently, he joined the Mao Zedong's Eighth Route Army at the Jin-Cha-Ji border near the Wutai Mountain Area, armed with nothing but big plans to serve the wounded brave warriors. As a front-line doctor, he often had to work for up to 72-hours at a stretch. During his stint with the army, Dr. Kotnis provided medical aid to thousands of soldiers and conducted more than 800 major operations.
However, the hardships of suppressed military life finally started to take its toll on him. As they say, whom the Gods love, die young. On December 9, 1942, at the age of just 32 years, he died of epilepsy. He was buried in the Heroes Courtyard in Nanquan Village with very high honors. At that time, none other than the eminent Mao Zedong mourned his death by observing that "The army has lost a helping hand, the nation has lost a friend. Let us always bear in mind his internationalist spirit." His legacy has been immortalized in the Chinese history. In the Northern Chinese province of Hebei, in Shijiazhuang city, a famous attraction is the Martyr's Memorial park. The north and south sides of the park are dedicated to the veterans of the Korean and the Japanese wars. The west side is dedicated to Norman Bethune, a Canadian who fought for the Chinese, and the east side to Dr Kotnis. There is a great statue in his honor. A small museum there has a handbook of vocabulary that Kotnis wrote on his passage from India to China; some of the instruments that the surgeons used in their medical fight for life, and various photos of the doctors, some with the Communist Party of China's most influential figures, including Mao.
The influence of this young man on the contemporary generations can be gauged by the number of masterpieces that have been created in his memory. He has been immortalized in the acclaimed 1946 V. Shantaram movie - Dr Kotnis ki Amar Kahani. China, too, had its own dedication to Dr Kotnis in the form of 1982 movie Dr D.S. Kotnis. There is also a best-selling biographical novel by K.A. Abbas - And One Did Not Come Back (1945). In 1982, China released two postal stamps on the 40th anniversary of the doctor's death. In 1992, on his 50th anniversary, the Chinese Government did an encore. In 1993, the Indian Government followed suit by releasing a stamp showing him conducting a surgery. A towering and respected figure in China, every Chinese Premier who visits India makes it a point to pay the nation's respects to Dr. Kotnis' relatives. They include Zhou En Lai in (1954), Jiang Zemin (1996), Li Peng in 2001 and Zhu Rongji (2002). On his recent visit, the President Hu Jintao met Dr. Kotnis's relatives, including his two surviving sisters, and remembered him as "a bridge between China and India".
His life is perhaps best recapitulated in Mackey's lines: "The smallest effort is not lost, each wavelet on the ocean tossed, Aids in the ebb tide or the flow. Each raindrop makes some floweret glow, each struggle lessens human woe." Long live the legacies of Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis! We at DFY wish to perpetuate Dr. Kotnis's selfless work and his yeoman service to humanity, if not in the same measure, then at least in the same spirit.
Dr. G. Venkataswamy
Dr. G. Venkataswamy or 'Dr. V' as he is affectionately called is the founder chairman of Aravind Eye Hospital. He was born on October 1, 1918 in Vadamalapuram, a village eighty kilometers from Madurai. He began his university education in the American college, Madurai from which he graduated with a B.A. in chemistry. He received his medical degree from Stanley Medical College at Chennai in 1944. Thereafter, he joined the Indian Army Medical Corps but had to retire in 1948 after developing rheumatoid arthritis. At one point, the arthritis became so severe that he was bedridden for over a year. For a time, he struggled just to walk and could not hold a pen in his badly crippled fingers. Despite his condition, he returned to medical school and earned his diploma and masters degree in Ophthalmology. Through his hard work and determination, Dr. V learned how to hold a scalpel and perform cataract surgery. Eventually, he was able to perform more than one hundred surgeries a day.
Dr. V joined the faculty at Madurai Medical College, a government school, where he was appointed head of the Department of Ophthalmology and later served as Vice- Dean of the college. During his period of government service, Dr. V introduced a number of innovative programmes to deal with the problem of blindness in India. He developed the outreach eye camp programmes in 1960, a rehabilitation centre for the blind in 1966, and the creation of an ophthalmic Assistants Training programme in 1973. In his clinical work, Dr. V personally performed over one hundred thousand successful eye surgeries.
In recognition of his work in the fight against blindness, Dr, V received the Padmashree award in 1973 by the Government of India. This award is given to citizens, who have rendered outstanding service to their nation. In 1976, after mandatory retirement from government service at age of 58, Dr. V resolved to continue his work in eye care delivery. With support from his family, he founded Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai , a non profit institution dedicated to providing high quality eye care to all patients who come to its door. Dr. V blends his spiritual life to his daily work remarkably well. As a young man, he became a disciple of Sri Aurobindo, an Indian philosopher and saint who lived in service to God and man. Aravind was founded on this principle of service and continues to be guided by it. In 1991, as part of its Wit lectures series, Dr. V was invited to deliver an address at the Harvard Divinity School on the theme of living a spiritual life in the contemporary age. The address entitled 'Illuminated Spirit', has been published and read by many people.
Dr. V begins and ends every day at the hospital with a visit to the meditation room for "a silent talk with God". In discussing his work as a spiritual practice, Dr. V has said, "When I go to meditation room at the hospital every morning, I ask God that I be a better tool, a receptacle for the divine force. We can all serve humanity in our normal professional lives by being more generous and less selfish in what we do. You don't have to be a 'religious' person to serve God. You serve God by serving humanity."
We at DFY wish to perpetuate the work of Dr. V for the service of the humanity. The selfless work of Dr. V will keep inspiring us in the same spirit.
Dr. Ganesh Kumar Mani
Dr. Ganesh Kumar Mani is a Cardiac Surgeon who is currently the Chairman of Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery at Max Smart Super Specialty Saket City Hospital, New Delhi. With over forty years of experience in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dr. Ganesh is one of the pioneer doctors in Cardiac Surgery in India. He is a recipient of the prestigious Padma Shri award and was also conferred with National Citizens and National Excellence Award. Recognized as the leading figure in "Beating Heart Coronary Artery Bypass" in Delhi in the year 2000, Dr. Ganesh has personally performed more than 2000 Cardiac Surgery and has managed to achieve almost zero mortality in elective heart surgeries.
He was formerly the Chief Cardiac Surgeon at Railway Hospital Perambur TN, Batra Hospital, Apollo Hospitals and Delhi Heart & Lung Institute. In addition to Coronary Artery Surgery, Dr. Ganesh has thousands of valve surgeries and congenital heart surgeries to his credit. He has also served as the Director of Cardiac Surgery at Batra Hospital & Medical Research Centre, New Delhi. With such a promising career Dr Ganesh has committed to doing free heart surgeries for underprivileged children under the Rotary Foundation 'Gift of Life' scheme with additional support from Max India Foundation and Health Education and Research Trust.
Dr. S. K. Mathur
Dr. S. K. Mathur, MS, FACS, served as professor of Surgery and G.I Surgery at Seth G, S, Medical College and KEM Hospital, and as Head Department of General and G, I. Surgery at TN Medical College and Nair Hospital Mumbai from 1981 through 1998. He established Therapeutic GI Endoscopy and surgery for Portal Hypertension at GS Medical College & KEM hospital, work that has been published in Br J of Surgery, World J of Surgery and Therapeutic Endoscopy, and has been quoted in text books like Harrison’s Internal Medicine, Shiff’s Hepatology and Blumgart’s HepatoBiliary Surgery. In 1989-90, he was recipient of French Government Senior Level Post-Doctoral fellowship, and received training in both Cadaveric and Living donor Liver transplantation in France, Pittsburgh and Chicago, subsequently establishing facilities for Liver Transplantation at KEM, BYL Nair and Fortis hospital in Mumbai. He has more than 45 years of experience of teaching under graduate and Postgraduate Medical Students and had been an examiner for M.ch., Ph.D. & DNB in Surgical Gastroenterology, and for M.S. and DNB General Surgery and for MBBS at various Indian Universities. He has Published 136 scientific articles (29 in International Journals), written 12 chapters in books including API text book of Medicine and ASI text book of surgery and Recent Advances in surgery, delivered 16 Orations, and has been an invited faculty and speaker at 6th & 7th,8th and 10th world congress of IHPBA, European HPB congress, Asia Pacific HPBA congress and World congress of IASGO 2008 and 2009 and 2011. He has served as Former President of IHPBA (Indian Chapter), and of Indian Association of surgical Gastroenterology, and is a member of Scientific committee of International HPB Association, a member of Editorial Board of Indian Journal of Gastroenterology, and referee for British Journal of surgery. He has been a pioneer of Liver Transplantation, performing experimental work the in the field of Liver Transplantation, successfully performing living donor adult to adult liver transplantation using Right liver graft developing NHB Donor (DCD) Protocol for Human Liver Transplantation at KEM Hospital . He is currently working for cause of Deceased Organ donations in the country . He serves as the President of ZTCC Mumbai and under his leadership in year 2022, ZTCC Mumbai became first Organ Distribution Organisation in India to receive ISO certification. Dr. Mathur is the Founder Member of Maharashtra Confederation for Organ Transplant (MCFOT) and ZTCC and member of the Expert committee formed by Government of Maharashtra for effective implementation of the Act in the state of Maharashtra. He is Currently Member of: - Apex Technical Committee of National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation (NOTTO) of Government of India.Member of Task force of National Academy Medical Sciences for Organ Transplantation.
Dr. Manoj Kumar
Additional Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Law & Justice
Currently serving as Additional Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Law & Justice, Legislative Department, he is a distinguished alumnus of National Law School of India University and has attended BGEI, Harvard Business School. He is renowned for his exemplary leadership, strategic acumen, and adeptness in navigating complex challenges His profound insights and visionary approach are instrumental in addressing the nation's legislative, regulatory and inclusive development imperatives.
His community-building and spiritual pursuits see him backing multiple initiatives, which include, medical help during disasters/epidemics, prevention of neo-natal deaths, supporting shelter for orphanages/homeless/senior-citizens, supporting Gaushala for destitute cows in Govardhan/Mathura and supporting a temple for Lord Shiva at Buxar near Varanasi, which he rebuilt in 2007.
His contributions have been richly recognized, which include, the Mahatma Gandhi Samman, the Nelson Mandela Leadership Award and the Atal Samman.
Dr. Stobdan Kalon
Dr. Stobdan Kalon is Public Health Physician with more than 25 years of experience of working in the global health and humanitarian sectors to manage public health programmes in complex and diverse global settings working in the health and developmental sectors, with organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), Burnet Institute, Médecins du Monde, USAID projects for PATH, FHI 360, Prject HOPE etc. His experience spans from managing infectious diseases, interventions in on Drug Resistant -Tuberculosis (DR-TB), COVID-19, hepatitis and HIV, MCH, Primary Health Care and emergency interventions – both in the field and from HQ for operations in countries like Uzbekistan, Armenia, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, China, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Georgia, Solomon Islands and India. Currently, he is Health Policy and Advocacy Advisor for MSF focussing on TB, Hepatitis and other infectious diseases and medical humanitarian issues. is main areas of interest are TB-DRTB, other infectious diseases like HIV, Hepatitis, Malaria, STIs etc and maternal and child health, primary healthcare, health systems strengthening, medical emergencies and humanitarian responses.
Position
Since Jan 2024: Health Policy and Advocacy Advisor for MSF on TB, Hepatitis and other infectious diseases and medical humanitarian issues
Since Feb 2022: (part-time since January 2023). Medical Director, RIB-TB Project, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Eliminating TB in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) / (ETICA) Project, For PATH, USA, Central Asia
May 2016 – Jan 2021 (2022-2021 remotely from Australia): Country Medical Coordinator/Operational Strategy and Advocacy Advisor – India for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders.
Nov 2015 – May 2016: Country Medical Coordinator, Bangladesh | Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders.
Mar 2014 – Jul 2015: TB Director at Project HOPE, Kyrgyzstan for USAID Quality Health Care Project, Central Asia.
October 2015 to May 2016 Country Medical Coordinator, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders Bangladesh.
Mar 2011 – Jul 2013: Deputy (Medical) Programme Manager/ Health Advisor at MSF HQ in Tokyo/Paris, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders, overseeing operations in China, Mongolia, Cambodia, Loas, Sri Lanka, Armenia, and PNG.
May 2008 – Mar 2011: Country Director (Head of Mission)/Medical Coordinator - Armenia, for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders.
Sep 2006 – Mar 2008: Country Medical Coordinator (Medical Coordinator) – Uzbekistan for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders.
Oct 2004 – Mar 2006: Medical and Project Coordinator, Myanmar, Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), Paris, France.
1997- 2003: General Practitioner/Medical Officer/researcher, Jammu and Kashmir State Health Services, India.