H. V. Hande

H. V. Hande opened his clinic in Chennai’s Shenoy Nagar in June 1950 and, more than seventy-five years later, is still seeing patients. In 2026 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of medicine, from Tamil Nadu ^[1].

A doctor first

Hande was born in Coimbatore on 28 November 1927 ^[2]. As a young student at Government College, Mangaluru, he joined the 1942 Quit India Movement ^[2]. He qualified in 1950 in integrated medicine, combining modern medicine and Ayurveda, at what is now Kilpauk Medical College ^[2].

He kept his practice going through his years as a member of the Legislative Council, MLA and minister, and in his late nineties still treats patients, most of them poor ^[2].

Health minister

Hande was Tamil Nadu’s health minister from 1980 to 1986, in M. G. Ramachandran’s cabinet ^[2]. Working with Rotary Clubs, he backed campaigns that, according to his citation, all but eliminated polio and measles in the state, and he started a Sunday polio-drops drive for children ^[2]. Tamil Nadu ranked first for three years running in reducing infant and maternal deaths, and leprosy cases fell sharply ^[2]. He received the Dr. B. C. Roy Award, rare for a minister ^[2].

Writer

He translated the whole of the Tamil Kamba Ramayanam into English prose, published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan ^[2]. He also wrote a Tamil biography of C. Rajagopalachari and books on the Constitution and on MGR ^[2].