Published on: January 26, 2020

Congratulations to Dr Ravi Kannan on being awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour by Government of India on Republic day, the 26th of January 2020. Dear Dr Ravi Kannan, we rejoice here in Trivandrum.

You have demonstrated to the nation how one person with commitment and sincerity can get together an army of human beings who needed a personality like yours to follow and to achieve miracles. You, your wife Seethaji and your daughter decided to relinquish the ordinary pursuits of luxury that many a high-rated oncosurgeon could have chosen, and chose to work in one of the most deprived parts of India. We have heard how you turned a piece of barren land to a temple of love and care, the Cachar Cancer Hospital. Sitting in one of the farthest corners of India from you, we can almost see the tears of happiness on many a haggard, disease-stricken face of people for whom you are God.

We remember coming to you a few years back with the concept of “pain-free hospital” in which every single patient is asked, “Do you have pain?”, where every single doctor and nurse has gone through a course in pain management and in which pain is always treated optimally. We remember how you embraced that idea of compassion and true to your form, made it happen. Not many would know that yours is one of the only two or three cancer hospitals in the country that have achieved the ‘pain-free hospital’ status.

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men”. You are a living example of that maxim. We are proud to have walked a few steps with you in your remarkable journey.