The awards were instituted by the Confederation of Indian Organisations for Service and Advocacy (CIOSA) and Udhavum Ullangal, a charitable trust, to honour medical practitioners for their dedication to the social cause and service to the underprivileged.

The recipients of the 2009 edition of the awards in the name of Dr. Sanjivi, founder of the Voluntary Health Services and a trailblazer in community medicine, included doctors, surgeons and health administrators from all over the State.

The awardees were M. Govalan, plastic surgeon, Peravallur; Uma Natarajan, Block Medical officer, Mudhur; Iyyanar, deputy director of health services, Dharmapuri; Tarun Chabra, dental surgeon, Udhagamandalam; Anitha Rao, director, medical services, TTK Hospital; Muralidharan, orthopaedic surgeon, Virudhunagar; S. Ganapathi Raman, oncologist; Shantha Kamath, psychiatrist and K.S. Gamal Abdul Nasser, dental surgeon.

The lifetime achievement award was conferred on J. Balasubramaniam, medical director, TTK-VHS Blood Bank.

Presenting the awards and citation, S. Alphonse Selvaraj, Additional Director, Public Health, said the medical fraternity had greatly contributed to provide a strong community medicine network across the State.

Saradha Suresh, director, Institute of Child Health, said the institution’s tie-up with Ekam Community Paediatric Health Project had been able to bridge critical gaps in paediatric care for the underprivileged.

Indira Ravi, marketing head of Hitech Diagnostic Centre and Surendra Kumar representing TTK Healthcare Ltd. also spoke.

According to K. Pandia Rajan, CIOSA founder trustee, the Dr. K. S. Sanjivi awards served to put the spotlight on unsung heroes and inspire other doctors to reach out to the underprivileged.