The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : VHS staff rededicate themselves to carrying forward founder’s vision

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Monday, Oct 19, 2009
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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

VHS staff rededicate themselves to carrying forward founder’s vision

Special Correspondent

“Dr. Sanjivi shared Gandhi’s mission of putting service to others above self”

— Photo: S.R.Raghunathan

For A CAUSE: S. Janaki, medical superintendent, VHS; V. Kalyanam, former secretary to Mahatma Gandhi; Lakshmi Vijayakumar, HoD, Department of Psychiatry, VHS, and Vijaya, president, Inner Wheel Club, Madras South, holding a replica of a cheque for a geriatric rehabilitation centre in Chennai on Friday.

CHENNAI: Doctors and staff of Voluntary Health Services (VHS) on Friday re-dedicated themselves to carrying forward the ideals of institution founder K.S. Sanjivi, whose vision of community health remains ever relevant in society.

Chief guest for the Remembrance Day of Dr. Sanjivi, V. Kalyanam, former personal secretary to Mahatma Gandhi, noted that Dr. Sanjivi shared Gandhi’s life mission of putting service to others above self. If Gandhi underwent sacrifice for the cause of the country, Dr. Sanjivi engaged in selfless service of the community.

Mr. Kalyanam recounted several instances of Mahatma Gandhi undergoing several sacrifices to gain Independence. He had renounced clothes to express solidarity with the rural poor and also gave up salt to support his wife when she was advised by doctors to keep off salt to recover from illness. And, apart from the 15 or 16 times that Gandhi had gone on fast as per records, there were about six more such instances when the Father of the Nation took to fasting whenever he came across a wrongdoing, Mr. Kalyanam said.

Noting that Gandhi was an expert in solving problems, Mr. Kalyanam said many of the ills plaguing the country would not have surfaced had Gandhi’s advice been heeded.

Onus on disciples

Krishnamoorthy Srinivas, chairman emeritus, Institute of Neurological Sciences, said the contributions of Dr. Sanjivi had a permanence about them.

Dr. Srinivas, who has authored a book on Dr. Sanjivi, said as the last vestiges of the founding legacy, Dr. Sanjivi’s onus was on disciples like him to perpetuate the ideals among the younger generation of doctors.

Geriatric rehabilitation

The Inner Wheel Club of Madras South donated a cheque for Rs.5 lakh as first instalment for a long-term geriatric rehabilitation centre for the destitute elderly who suffered neurological and psychological problems.

Staff Welfare Fund

A corpus for the Staff Welfare Fund was also opened on a donation of Rs.2.5 lakh.

S. Janaki, VHS medical superintendent, said the VHS founder accorded priority to primary care and preventive medicine for the underprivileged.

Ravi Ramamoorthy, hospital development committee chairman, urged doctors to uphold ethics in practice the way Dr. Sanjivi did.

E.S. Krishnamoorthy, honorary secretary, VHS, said physicians, nurses and support staff at VHS held a great responsibility to develop the institution and uphold the lofty ideals of its founder.

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