The doctor-turned IAS who won laurels as social entrepreneur

By Soudhriti Bhabani Kolkata, Oct 22 : He lost his father during a medical surgery at a Kolkata-based high-end private hospital. Though the case was not very critical, his father died on the operation table. That was the trigger-point for him.
The incident worked as a catalyst. He realised that if such disaster can happen to the father of a doctor-turned top bureaucrat due to inadequate medical facilities, it can happen to any commoner in the country.
Meet Sabahat S. Azim, a doctor-turned IAS officer who later became an entrepreneur venturing into the healthcare services with a mission to cater to the rural poor with affordable healthcare.
“I did my medical degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC), a constituent medical college of Aligarh Muslim University. Then I joined the administrative service and served in various positions, including as Secretary to the Chief Minister of Tripua, Manik Sarkar. But I was feeling restless to do more which can give me some satisfaction as a human being,” Azim, who spends most of his time Kolkata and other parts of Bengal when he is not travelling, told IANS in an interview.
At a time when the country is abuzz with anti-minority rhetoric, Azim was named the Social Entrepreneur of 2020 by the World Economic Forum’s Schwab Foundation for Social Enterprise. The much-coveted recognition came this September for his extraordinary work providing affordable healthcare to India’s rural folks.
“I come from Uttar Pradesh. I am a small-town person who has spent most of his time during service in rural India. I always felt the urge to make the world a better place in a sustainable way. Primarily as human beings, we all have multiple identities – be it our nationality, religion or as the person we are in real life. But none of them are important. I want to be known for the works I do in life. That is the only predominant factor,” he said, pointing out that he does not want to be known for his religious identity.