The ‘Pride of Kovai’ award of the Rotary Club of Coimbatore Metropolis was conferred on A Velumani, founder and Managing Director of Thyrocare, here at a function recently.
The Chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan B.K. Krishnaraj Vanvarayar and the club President Jayakumar Ramdass presented the citation and award to Dr .Velumani for his vocational excellence.
Dr. Velumani, hailing from farmers’ families at Appananaickenpatti near Coimbatore, overcame poverty to first get a science degree, a post-graduate degree in bio-chemistry and later a doctorate while working for Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
With just Rs 2 lakh he established Thyrocare, which today carries out 50,000 investigations a day and is today a Rs. 33 billion company, the citation said. “The company’s pathology laboratory has been registering a year on year growth of 100 per cent for more than 10 years,” it noted.
In his acceptance speech, Dr Velumani traced his journey, citing valuable work mantras that had helped him. He declared that it was the ‘luxury of poverty’ that had propelled him to excel in his field. Mr Vanavarayar said Dr. Velumani’s life story was fit for inspiring millions. Mr Jayakumar said Rotary Metropolis had chosen Dr Velumani for its vocational excellence award because of his phenomenal achievement through sheer perseverance.
