The Union government asserted the Padma awards to 132 people. The list comprises 5 Padma Vibhushan awardees, 17 Padma Bhushan awardees, and 110 Padma Shri awardees. Dr. Maya Tandon, from Jaipur, Rajasthan, is one of the recipients of the Padma Shri Awards.
Dr. Maya Tandon has been awarded Padma Shri for her work on road safety training for over 30 years. Dr. Tandon, 87, is a former head of the Department of Anesthesia at SMS Hospital in Jaipur. She began road safety training after her retirement in 1995. She had an organization named ‘Sahayata’, and through this organization, she saved countless lives of road accident victims by training people.
Dr. Tandon completed her schooling at Sophia School in Ajmer. She joined the Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Medical College in Jaipur. She retired as the superintendent of J.K. Lawn Hospital in Jaipur. Her road safety training began after her retirement in 1995. She has a team of ten people, which also comprises five doctors who train students and volunteers across the state. She conducted the training sessions at government departments, bodies, and corporations after her retirement.
Dr. Tandon said that it all began in 1994 when she conducted a session on emergency response for police at the Rajasthan Police Academy. She conceded that her comprehension of the subject was insufficient, but if even basic training is given to people, it can save lives. Her longest training program was for the people who are living along the Jaipur-Delhi highway, which is very vulnerable to accidents, and the response was immense. She also said the success stories of people trained by us to save lives still reach us. Dr. Tandon’s road safety training comprises CPR, sequential handling, and protocols that deal with accidents.
She also said that the American Heart Association enunciates that in the case of an emergency applying pressure on the heart and giving mouth-to-mouth breathing (CPR) should be carried out. The Indian Resuscitation Council recently corroborated that life can be saved only by applying pressure to the heart 120 times in a minute. However, several people are unaware of this procedure, and they are unable to give CPR. As anesthesiologists are in charge of the ICU, she presumed to spread awareness about all these procedures after her retirement so that she could contribute to the country. Accordingly, she took the initiative to make the public aware of the life-saving systems.
She added that the honor she is getting is the result of everyone's combined efforts and she thanked her family for supporting her and also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the award.
(Input from various media sources)
(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina)
