AFVOA Newletters of Year 2003

Page 61 of 170 General of Armed Forces Medical Services (DGAFMS). In 1954, when the Central Government Health Services were established, Col Ayyar was called upon to head the Government Hospital at New Delhi. He then served as the Director of Health Services, treating celebrity patients as well as the others. In the former category were Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi. It is common knowledge that Nehru swore by the skills of this God gifted healer. 35. On retirement, he settled at Besant Nagar. This venerable doctor saint (he would be anguished at being praised) lived the promise he made to his father, Dr S Ramaswamy Ayyar, over 70 years ago, of never setting up private practice. He was living alone for quite a while as his wife passed away many years ago, and his married children are settled in the US. The doctor fed fruits and loaves of bread to about 20 odd cows everyday. He treated patients free, with a long line of auto rickshaws lined up outside his house at 1800 hrs daily, caring those who sought his skilled heart and hands for healing. He charged nothing, for, ‘as he put it, the Government paid him for his services, and gave him a good pension. Medicine, to this remarkable icon of a fast vanishing breed, was a noble profession, from which he had no intention of making money. His patients, adored him, as his diagnoses were unerringly correct. He belonged to a generation of physicians that believed that patients were best treated with just the minimum of the carefully chosen medication, with more aggressive intervention such as surgery being resorted to only when really necessary. In an interview given some time before he passed away, he lamented that nobody cared. The people needed help, and it was the duty of people like him to serve the poor to the best of their ability. The humility of this gifted soul more than matched his actions at an age when most men would have long since gone to rest or to seed. It is with great sorrow that we grieve his passing away. We salute you, Sir! Col Ayyar lived at No 27, Rukmini Road, Kalakshetra Colony, Besant Nagar, Chennai – 600090. His telephone was 2491 1891. @@@@@ Lt Gen K P Candeth 36. Lt Gen (Retd) K P Candeth, was the hero of the 1961 Goa Liberation war and the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict, He led the Indian Army operations for liberation of Goa in 1961 and later served as its military governor. He was the GOC-in-C of the Western Command during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Gen K P Candeth died on the morning of 19 th May 2003, at New Delhi. He was 87 and a bachelor. ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ ˵ Editorial Team Contributions From Brig V A Subramanyam Tele: 2491 4776 Wg Cdr M E Muthu; Tele 2441 6289 Wg Cdr Ravi Mani Tele: Tele 2491 6705 Lt Gen C Sundara Rao, 2490 1185