TANKER Foundation celebrated its 30th Annual Charity and Awards Nite Wednesday, January 25, 2023, at Hotel Savera, R K Salai, Chennai. The event was a hybrid programme with live streaming.

The programme began with The Mr. Venkatesan & Mrs. Malathi Venkatesan TANKER Foundation Memorial Lecture, delivered by Dr. Gomathy Narasimhan, Senior Consultant – Liver & Renal Transplant Surgeon, Chairman, Medical Advisory Board, Dr. Rela Institute & Medical Centre, Chennai.

The lecture was on ‘Inspire to Aspire’, in which Dr. Gomathy Narasimhan shared her experiences and several heartwarming stories about the people who made a difference in her life – doctors, patients and teachers – who taught her compassion and kindness and empathy.

She emphasised the need for a movement against lifestyle-associated disease as they have a big role to play in leading to liver and kidney failure, thus necessitating transplants.

TANKER Foundation Founder-Trustee, Dr. Georgi Abraham, welcomed the gathering and said the need for dialysis was on the increase and that more awareness had to be created about this terrible disease. The Awards Nite was also a function to recognise research in nephrology, and service to the public.

TANKER Foundation Managing-Trustee, Mrs. Latha Kumaraswami, talked about TANKER’s small beginnings in 1993 and that with help from the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS), Central Government, Greater Chennai Corporation, family, friends, Rotary, Lions, Round Table, Freemasons, Ladies Circle, Inner Wheel, corporates, individuals and other valuable donors, it was able to enhance its service.

She thanked the valuable staff of TANKER for being the Angels on Earth, especially for their commitment and dedication during the Corona pandemic.

The chief guest, Dr. Malini Parthasarathy, Chairperson, The Hindu Group Publishing Private Ltd, lauded the dedicated work that TANKER does and that everyone involved took ownership of TANKER.

She also talked about CKD being a major public health challenge and that it was the need of the hour for more resources to be made available from the public and private sectors for addressing awareness, organ donation and all related problems.

The eminent journalist congratulated TANKER Foundation for its awesome work and asked it to keep it going. “We are all with you,” she assured.

Dr. Malini Parthasarathy presented the TANKER Foundation awards for the year.

The evening came to an end with dinner. Grateful thanks were conveyed to TANKER’s well-wishers, sponsors, the staff and management of Savera, the media and donors, and especially Mrs. Nina Reddy for sponsoring the dinner at Savera Hotel.

Earlier, TANKER Foundation Trustee, Mrs. Latha Pandiarajan introduced the chief guest to the audience. It came to light that Dr. Malini Parthasarathy had a rich bio data.

Before the start of the function, TANKER Foundation Advisory Member, Mrs. Sudha Lakshmi Rao, rendered the prayer song. It was a hymn from her alma mater, Vidyodaya Girls High School, Chennai, which goes like this: “Have you had a kindness shown, pass it on…”