‘I’m honoured’
Dr Philip Augustine, one of India’s leading gastroenterologists and healthcare administrators, is the founder and managing director of Lakeshore Hospital. He is known for his expertise in gastrointestinal endoscopy and research in pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. He was trained in gastroenterology, endoscopy and ultrasonography from the best centres around the world including Wisconsin Medical College, Milwaukee USA, Eppendorf University, Germany, Clichy, Paris and Marseilles, France, Bern University in Switzerland and ULM University in Munich.
I’m extremely honoured and consider this national recognition a great encouragement to my work. But at the same time I feel that awards are something which comes along as part of the work, you don’t work for the sake of awards.
My policy has always been to take the patient into confidence and communicating the seriousness of the matter directly. I would also say the award is a recognition of teamwork. At our hospital, I respect not just the patients but my colleagues as well; we try to find something for each team member to specialise in. I think we have created a new business model with Lakeshore. The hospital has achieved a lot in reaching out to rural areas and making the latest technology and treatment available in those areas.
I have also done a lot of studies and published papers on diseases peculiar to Kerala.
In the future, we plan to expand, double the capacity of the hospital and include better facilities. We are also in the process of working out a new project, a cancer hospital on the premises. All in all, the Padma Shri has made me feel more responsible towards my work.
‘A reflection of selfless service’
Dr Kurian John Melamparambil is probably the only social worker who runs a business to support a cause.
After completing his MSW in 1978, he joined a leading newspaper but left the job in order to start his own venture to generate funds for providing medical care for the poor and needy patients.
The ‘Melam’ brand of food products was started in memory of his late father Melamparambil Varghese John. The charitable trust under the same name achieved the mark of treating 1.25 lakh patients free of cost recently.
The success of the Melam brand has only strengthened the extent of Dr Kurien’s charitable activities.
I feel the award is a reflection of the selfless service which I have been providing to humanity. I have always tried to be self dependent in my charitable activities and that is why I started my own company in the first place. The Melam Charities work by involving people’s representatives like MLAs and MPs. There are around 877 hospitals across the state attached to the trust which provides specialised treatment to patients for which medical camps are conducted once in every two weeks. A speciality of my charitable work is that I and my family (wife and two daughters) personally meet each family in need of help and then decide the appropriate amount required for the treatment.
In future, I hope to start a new venture in which we will start Melam welfare clubs in every Taluk and provide more organised service. The award has given me energy to make it a reality.
‘A great recognition’
Prof Ponisseril Somasundaran is director, National Science Foundation IU/CR Center for Particulate and Surfactant System, Columbia University. A product of Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, he has been honoured with every major award in the field for his life long achievements in Engineering Sciences, Technology and Education. It all began in l985 when he was inducted into the US National Academy of Engineering, the highest professional distinction that can be conferred on an engineer in the US at that time, and later to corresponding academies in China, India and Russia, and recently to the Balkan Academy.
Having set up a company on green initiatives at the University of Columbia, he has been collaborating with Indian scientists on many issues vital to India on green engineering.
It’s indeed a great recognition. My father would have been proud of me,” said Prof Ponisseril Somasundaran whose father, M G Kumara Pillai, was a freedom fighter. “It’s time India develop cost-effective solutions for the country’s basic needs like clean potable water,’’ he said. On a visit to the city last month he spoke at the international material conference organised by Cusat. His style of presentation impressed the audience as he filled it with a lot of practical jokes and examples.
He spoke on the challenges faced by researchers looking for green solutions, especially global warming. “Many of my students are coming back and through them I am able to get associated with several research projects in India.’’