It's raining awards for Kodali Siva Rama Krishna Prasad, a staff grade orthopaedic surgeon working for Prince Charles Hospital at Merthyr Tydfil in United Kingdom since 1994.
A native of Thurumella village near Tenali in Guntur district, the UK-settled orthopaedic flew down to India in January this year to receive the globally reputed Glory of India Award. The India International Friendship Society bestowed the honour on him in recognition of his meritorious services and outstanding performance in the field of medicine.
It's only a couple of months and he is here again, to receive a couple of more awards, conferred by the All-India Economy Survey Award Council.
‘The Indira Gandhi Seva Ratna Puraskar' and the ‘Shining Image of India Gold Medal' presented to him at a function held in Delhi on April 8 are, according to him, “completely out of the blue. From what I gathered, they selected me on the basis of web content. Instead of seeking nominations, they chose to look for the right candidate,” Dr. Prasad told The Hindu on Wednesday.
Dedicating the awards to his mother Kodali Jagadamba, Dr. Prasad says it was inspiring to be part of an elite crowd at the award ceremony.
The orthopaedic has been mostly engaged in National Health Service in UK. Reminded of the many awards bestowed on him in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the field of medicine and asked if it increases his responsibility towards his mother land, Dr. Prasad stresses the importance of service. “Service takes different forms – service to the creator of the university, to the universe, to the world, to humanity, to society, to the family and finally the self.” Speaking about emerging trends, he says the next evolution in orthopaedics may be towards non-surgical management methods. “For instance, the end point of osteoarthritis in major joints now is joint replacement surgery. But in future, prevent of this end point may become a possibility.” One of his objectives is pursuit of truth. “Perhaps there comes a point, the pursuit of truth from all view points may have a single end point. This is the point where possibly religion and science merge. This may well be the oneness one strives to realise. In the course of this search for visualisation of truth, one is oriented to serve,” he says.
