Open Letter to Fellow Citizens of the World – Saving Lives, Making Quality Education/Healthcare Affordable & Accessible
New Delhi, India – (EIN PRESSWIRE) – June 16, 2021
Health is wealth, a healthy person has many wishes, but a sick person has only one wish — to be healthy. Education is the most effective way to eliminate poverty, promote global understanding and peace. A college education should not be a "debt sentence for life" to our young adults.
Life is a gift from our parents. We can look at every opportunity as an obstacle, or every obstacle as an opportunity to make our own lives and others better, safer and healthier. Who, what and where we are have a lot to do with the choices we made, as well as the ones we did not. Our career and community service are the outcome of what we do with the gift of life from our parents.
A few years ago, I was in Moscow, Russia. I went to visit the head of an Oncology department at the Doctors Hospital to discuss their needs to purchase equipment from my company. As we sat down in her conference room, she asked me, what motivates me every day? Without hesitation I said, "Saving lives, every day!" That is how our discussions began.
Many years ago, a banker visited my office in USA. He knew that I have expanded the company rapidly, both organically and through a number of acquisitions. He asked me what was the purpose and end goal of all my plans and work? I said, "I too have a dream, with a purpose, and I call it a 'Purposeful Dream'; to make quality education and healthcare (not 'disease care', as we have now) affordable and accessible, globally."
While I was studying in India, I walked without sandals nearly 8 kilometers/5 miles every day, starting from when I was 4.5 years old. I did this until I graduated from high school. The hardest part of those journeys were the midday walks, from school to home for lunch and back, in the hot scorching sun and heat. Every day, I helped my mom and sisters, by buying vegetables and flowers from two different markets, then bringing groceries from the store in the evening for daily cooking. Starting from my early days in primary/elementary school, I used to buy candies wholesale, and sell them to my classmates and others during our recess breaks. I also sold to children at other schools, when my Catholic school was on holiday, in order to earn money for used books and school supplies I needed.
I graduated from high school after many many challenges. I was one of the Top 5 students in a class of 500. One day, after my graduation in the summer of 1963, I visited my friend from school. His father asked me if I was going to college (as his son was planning to go to Pre-University College, PUC). Before I could answer, he himself said that I could not go to college, because my father was poor. I quietly listened to him, without commenting and left their home to my home. However, after many hurdles, I was able to pursue PUC myself. Despite starting three months late, I graduated as the top student out of 300, then pursued Undergraduate Studies in Engineering in India; and again, Graduate Studies in Ottawa, Canada, graduating with M.Eng in 1971.
Having lost my father to cancer in 1968 while pursuing my BE in Engineering in India, I dreamt of and started a career in Oncology in 1972, in Washington, DC, after I received my Masters Degree in Engineering. Since then, it has been a 50 years' journey to deal with the many challenges of Cancer and its devastation to families. On April 29th, 2015, I launched my Global War on Cancer, in memory of my father.
Now COVID-19, and its aftermath, will have caused more than 200 million infections and deaths – nearing 5 million by the end of this calendar year of 2021. The current pandemic has exposed the inequities in access to quality healthcare; and the fact that no one, rich or poor, including medical professionals is immune from the pandemic’s global devastation. In addition to untold number of deaths and the loss of one's family/friends, COVID-19 has taken away jobs and livelihoods – leaving millions of orphans, vulnerable elderly and disabled people with no support systems. The pandemic’s aftermath will reverberate for many many decades into the future.
In memory of my late mother, I started an organization named "3E — Education, Empowerment & Equality" to promote women and the underprivileged. Every man and woman, even the greatest men and women, were given birth to, nursed, nourished and raised mostly by women, who often juggle a career while caring for children, home, spouse and sometimes, adult relatives, with their daily chores.
Having traveled to as many as 20 countries, including China, India and many others in Asia, Western/Eastern European countries, Latin/South America, Africa, etc. During my 50 years of travels, I have seen the suffering of many... Meanwhile, over the last 18 months during this COVID-19 pandemic’s devastation, the wealth of 500 of the ultra-rich increased by more than 10 Trillion USD. All this while hundreds of millions of citizens lost jobs, family members and homes, becoming poorer.
Nearly 15 years ago, I started Best Cure Foundation alongside my TeamBest Global Companies, many of which have existed for decades. I am trying to establish a Global Healthcare Delivery System (not a "Disease Care System", as we have now) to make Quality Education and Healthcare Affordable and Accessible. Right now, I am a "one man army", trying to follow in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and others.
My fellow citizens of the world, please join me to accomplish our collective "Purposeful Dream" of affordable and accessible quality education and healthcare globally, for every citizen, regardless of their financial capabilities.
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