CHENNAI: Whenever you get the opportunity to do something good and help someone, and you don’t do that, the loss is not of the recipient’s but yours,” said Dr HV Hande who was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement award on Monday by the Rotary Club of Ambattur. The club, which has been rendering yeoman services to the public for several years, runs a free hospital and a free school where about 450 children study. Every year the club felicitates eminent personalities who serve the people.
Dr Hande, a medical practitioner and a politician, was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly from Park Town constituency as a Swatantra Party candidate in 1967 and 1971 elections. In the 1980 elections, Hande stood from the Anna Nagar constituency as a candidate of the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and lost by a margin of 699 votes to M Karunanidhi. He also contested in the 2006 elections from Anna Nagar as a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party but could only garner 9,000 votes. He was a National Council member of BJP in 2004.
He has also authored books on Ramayana, Dr Ambedkar and other topics. He opened Hande Hospitals in 1984 at Shenoy Nagar. Speaking about his time as the Health Minister at the function, he said, “I served as Health Minister between 1980-86. At that time, Tamil Nadu was ranked third in the number of leprosy cases and I wanted to do something about it. We started examining school students on a large scale after that and massive checking was conducted at various levels, which was not done in any other state. Within seven to eight years, leprosy was eradicated.”
“Politicians often used to make fun of me because I would never talk politics,” he said. “One person even told MGR that I was not saying anything political at events but MGR said that was the right thing to do — not to talk politics and do good work.”He mentioned his contributions towards another cause — rural healthcare and strengthening the system to ensure access to good healthcare.
Rotarian C Venkatachalam received the Vocational Excellence award. In his speech, he spoke of how he was humbled to have been recognised by his family at Rotary and that it was this recognition that kept him motivated to constantly work.Padma Shri recipient Dr VS Natarajan, senior geriatrician and founder and chairman of the Dr VS Natarajan Geriatric Foundation was the chief guest. He highlighted the importance of healthy ageing.
“Periodic health checkups are a must,” he said. “Many diseases lie dormant and don’t show symptoms till much later so it is good to get a health check-up done regularly. Regular exercise is essential. Going for a walk in the morning will do a lot of good, including raising vitamin D levels.”Rotarian G Chandramohan was the guest of honour and the event was attended by members of the Rotary Club of Ambattur as well as members from other Rotary clubs.