The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : He exemplifies `service before self' motto

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 19, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

He exemplifies `service before self' motto

Special Correspondent

Rotarians look upon Dr. Hobbs as the father of their immunisation programmes

IN RECOGNITION: Shanker C. Mangadu, president, Rotary Club of Madras presenting the Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Kenneth C. Hobbs in Chennai on Tuesday. Rotary District Governor Dr. Shyamsundar (second from left), looks on. — Photo: K. Pic humani

CHENNAI: : First it was measles and then, polio. To Kenneth C.Hobbs, though, it has been children right through and his intense desire to see smiles on their faces. It was this burning desire coupled with over 28 years of active work to make this dream work that had an audience rising up to applaud Dr. Hobbs in Chennai on Tuesday, while Rotary District 3230 conferred the lifetime achievement award on him.

Spoken of by Rotarians as the father of their immunisation programmes, Dr. Hobbs of the Rotary Club of Whitby, Canada, first came to India in 1979 to help implement the total immunisation programme against measles. It soon became a giant project involving immunisation of 5.2 million children over a six-year period.

The next chapter of the Hobbs-India saga opened in 1984, when the Rotary Foundation launched its Polio Plus Immunisation Programme. Further additions were made as the Rotary Foundation took on a programme to provide training and rehabilitation for persons with disabilities in Chennai. If a man's will is presumed to be the last chapter, then, there is much of Tamil Nadu in Dr. Hobbs last will and testament as well. He and his wife Eva Hobbs have willed $2,50,000 for the children of Tamil Nadu.

The citation for the award acknowledged all his contributions, especially in the area of prevention of disabilities and rehabilitation. It lauded him as a "visionary with a passionate commitment for the welfare of the community and rehabilitation of challenged children worldwide." Adding his felicitation on the occasion, R. Shyamsundar, Rotary District Governor, District 3230, said Dr. Hobbs exemplifies the Rotary motto of `Service before Self.'

Health Minister Thalavai Sundaram thanked the Hobbs couple for spending time, effort and money to work for the children of Tamil Nadu and urged Rotary to continue working with the Government on welfare issues. Rotary Club of Madras president, Shanker C.Mangadu, presented a report on the welfare schemes taken up by the Club, including aiding tsunami rehabilitation, promoting education for children and providing medical care for the poor.

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