Dr. Ravi Kannan (Image: x.com/CCHRC)
Dr Ravi Kannan has been chosen for Ramon Magsaysay Award along with three others. The 59-year old Oncologist, Dr. Kannan, is the only Indian among them to win the Nobel Prize of Asia, better known as Ramon Magsaysay award.
The other awardees were, Eugenio Lemos, a visionary for zero hunger from Timor-Leste; Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, a peace negotiator who has supported for women in peace building from Philippines and Korvi Rakshand, who champions for education for all from Bangladesh, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation homepage said.
Dr. Kannan is also the recipient of Padma Shri for his contribution to health sector and at present serves as the Director of Assam’s Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (CCHRC). He has also received the Mahaveer award in medicine in the year 2013.
He said that the award is an honour for his hospital, that they work as a team and that he would receive the award only as its head, “we all are working as a team and everyone is contributing equally to make this project a success. Not only those who are working here but the people who are supporting from outside, they are also the winners.”
The Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma congratulated Dr. Kannan saying that, he “played an impactful role in transforming cancer care in Assam, especially in rural areas.”
In the year 2007, Dr. Kannan who hails from Chennai, shifted to Assam with his wife, Seeta, knowing the situation then in the state to be volatile, to take charge of CCHRC. Earlier he had worked at Adyar Cancer Institute as a surgeon.
About cancer, he says that cancer is a curable disease like any other. The people in northeast, including Assam are more prone to have cancer, which is due to their lifestyle. He brushed away the myths that the air and water in northeast contributes to cancer, saying that, “there is nothing wrong with air or water which is a popular myth. People in the Northeast consume tobacco, betel nuts, and alcohol a lot. There is a lack of exercise and proper food. People are not even aware of the severity of cancer. Once it is detected, they become helpless and some people hide it. We have to fight this mindset and have been doing it for over a decade,” the HT reported.
Dr. Ravi Kannan has been instrumental in putting up satellite health facilities in every locality, Karimganj, Hailakandi and Dima Hasao, to help patients with easy follow ups. He said that earlier, the follow-ups were only 50% but now it is more than 90%, “I do not want to see a single person dying without dignity because he or she has cancer,” he said. Dr. Kannan has also supervised the first microvascular surgery on a cancer patient in 2012, which is also a first in the Northeast region, reported the HT.
Dr. Kannan said that the state and the government have been supportive of the Cancer centre with schemes like Atal Amrit Abhyan, “we are a society-run centre but whenever we ask for any support, the government never says no,” adding that the poor people were getting treatment easily.
Dr. Kannan is the son of an Indian Air Force Officer; his mother Indumati, all happy for him said, “my husband and I always wanted to make our son a doctor because with this profession he can serve common people. He was always a humble child and dedicated to his work. He is not overexcited about the recognition, rather he is hopeful that with this he can help more people. We are a simple South Indian vegetarian family, living in one of the most beautiful places in the country.”
