Shanti Ranganathan gets Avvaiyar award

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday presented the Avvaiyar award to Shanthi Ranganathan, Honorary Secretary, T.T. Ranganathan Clinical Research Foundation, also known as TTK Hospital.

The award, carrying a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh, an eight-gram gold medal and a citation, was instituted by the Chief Minister in 2012 to recognise the services of women in different fields of activity during the International Women’s Day.

According to an official release, the award was being given to her in honour of the service she had rendered for the rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug addicts for nearly 33 years. Apart from being honoured the Padma Shri in 1992, she had also received the United Nations Vienna Civil Society Award in 1999.

Ms. Ranganathan has a post-graduate degree in social service administration and got trained in the U.S. to set up a de-addiction centre in India.

Understanding that alcoholism was a disease that has a cure which requires time, patience, understanding and co-operation from the victim’s family, the TTK Hospital has done a pioneering research in the field of rehabilitation.