Dr. Pankaj Shah

Sadvichar Parivar

Padma Shri recipient, Pankaj Shah has had a chequered medical career spanning three and a half decades. Currently Honorary Director of the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute in Ahmedabad, Dr Shah is treated with rare veneration by the hospital staff and thousands of surviving cancer patients. Pankaj bhai, as he is called, has been a stickler for values and is a torch-bearer of traditional old-world ethics. Only a few of his associates know that he was the first doctor to introduce chemotherapy in the country.

Even as most of his classmates were looking for avenues abroad, young Pankaj was determined to make a success of his career in India. He was imbued with Gandhian ideals of giving back to society what it had given to him. He is a born leader and a very caring individual. Pankaj is a strong follower of the Gandhian philosophy.

He is a shrewd administrator, and a wonderful person with a kind heart. The country as a whole owe a lot to him for caring cancer victims, especially the poorest of the poor. A prominent social worker who has known Dr. Shah for more than 25 years, says he is as an upright, sincere, devoted and wise man who thinks and acts selflessly. He is always positive in his approach. He listens to everybody, even to a servant with absolute calm and composure. He tries his best to be of help to all.