Dr. Shantuben Patel is a pediatrician from India who founded the Dhanvantri School for mentally and physically challenged children in Gujarat. While working as a doctor in the UK, she was inspired to help underprivileged children after witnessing their needs firsthand. She returned to India and established the Dhanvantri School in 1996, which provides education and support to children with disabilities. Through her compassion and dedication over 25 years, Dr. Patel has enhanced the lives of hundreds of children and received several awards for her contributions.

1. DR. SHANTUBEN PATEL
BIOGRAPHY
Submitted By:
Gaurav Kumar
Mob. 9572343425

2. CONTENTS
• Brief history of Dr. Shantuben Patel
• Born Place, education, initial career
• Life turning point for Dr. Shantuben Patel
• Changes & Ideas by Dr. Shantuben Patel
• Dhanvantri School
• Awards & Nominated for

3. BRIEF HISTORY
She is a lady full of compassion and warmth.
While working in UK, an incident changed the
way Dr. Patel thought and she decided to
dedicate her life to treating those in need for
free. She came to India and started working in
Kutchh, and began her own school called
Dhanvantri School for mentally and physically
challenged children. This inspiring woman is
helping the less privileged get an equal
opportunity to study and succeed. By helping
these children experience something which
they generally are deprived of, by giving them
a chance to grow, Dr. Patel has been enhancing
and colouring the lives of all these children.

4. BORN PLACE, EDUCATION, INITIAL CAREER
 Dr. Shantuben Patel was born on 11th October in the year 1945 in Kenya.
 She completed her MBBS from Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal, India in 1972,
 She went on to complete her DCH from the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians,
London in 1976.
 She completed her DTM&H from the University of Liverpool, UK, in 1979.
 In the late 1970s, Dr. Shantuben Patel left her flourishing career as a neonatologist in
queen’s Elizabeth hospital, Birmingham, England, and settled in Kutch, Gujarat.
 Since 1979, Dr. Shantuben has been a practicing pediatrician and neonatologist in Bhuj,
Gujarat.

5. LIFE TURNING POINT FOR DR. SHANTUBEN
 The Somiaya group organized a medical camp for 15 days where 20,000 individuals including
children were provided excellent total care. The magnitude of the problem in handicapped
children was immense. Maximum cases were of polio-affected children and birth injury.
 She realized that if good pediatric care was given to them earlier then the handicap would not
have been severe.
 In lieu of that in 1981 with the help of Kutchi Leva Patel Samaj, she conducted a measle
vaccination program where 28 village children, around 400 children were given measles
vaccination.
 This was the turning point in the life of managing trustee Dr. Shantuben Patel. All these years
the idea to form the trust was lingering in the mind but the task was so mammoth and there
were financial restraints.

6. CHANGES & IDEAS BY DR. SHANUTUBEN
 She decided to start her own hospital—an inclusive space where any child could receive
medical treatments. A free educational and therapeutic camp for the challenged children
was organized in 1994 and again in 1995, initiated by Prof. Madhuri Kulkarni and her team
from Sion hospital, Mumbai. In 1994, 110 challenged children attended this camp, and the
number rose to 450 next year.
 In 1996, school was started in one of the hospital rooms with three hearing impaired
children. Within 3 months we had 45 handicap children. By 2000 we had 106 children in
three different departments.
1. Cerebral Palsy,
2. Mentally Challenged,
3. Hearing Impaired.
 She has been serving as a managing trustee of Child Welfare School, Bhuj since its
inception in 1996.

7. DHANVANTRI SCHOOL
 Dhanvantri school is a special school for
the mentally and physically challenged.
 The students include children that are
hearing impaired, hyperactive and
cerebral palsy, among other afflictions.
 The school is managed by Dr. Shantuben
Patel, a paediatrician and a neo-
natologist, and a team of special
educators, who set it up in response to the
large numbers of mentally and physically
challenged children that turned up at her
doorstep as patients while she was still a
practising doctor.

8. AWARDS & NOMINATED FOR
 She was nominated as India inspired by Indian oil.
 She was recently selected as an ‘Amazing Indian’ by the TV channels Times Now and is
recipient of ‘Senior Citizen Award-2013’ by CNN-IBN Channel.
 During her stay in Bhuj, she came in contact with vipassana meditation and was appointed as
assistant vipassana teacher in 2001.