Elite umpires donate US$10,000 to Voluntary Health Services charity

Lahore: The Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires today made a donation of US$10,000 to the Voluntary Health Services (VHS), a unique service that provides free healthcare for underprivileged people living in Chennai.

Members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, Rod Tucker, S Ravi Paul Reiffel and Chris Gaffney, on behalf of their colleagues, presented the cheque to the representatives of the VHS at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi. “We are delighted to make a small contribution to what has been a marvelous work by VHS in Chennai,” said Mr Tucker, speaking on behalf of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires.

“Providing free healthcare to underprivileged areas of Indian society is a huge service to the local community. Through its dedication and commitment, VHS has been able to treat about 70 per cent of its patients at no cost to them. This truly is an outstanding work, which has received little recognition.

“Through this contribution, the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires wants to recognise the hard work of the VHS and also play an important role in promoting this project so that it creates more awareness in India that, in turn, will only benefit those truly requiring this support.”

VHS was initiated by Dr K S Sanjivi, an eminent physician – scholar, who was greatly influenced by Gandhian thought and particularly by the philosophy of “Unto the Last”.

He envisaged and made available health and medical services to the underprivileged through the establishment of VHS in 1958.  

The underlying ethos of the charity is that of prevention and cure of serious illness, fostering of the family as a unit for medical care, and facilitating active community participation in the provision of a continuum of health care, with special reference to disadvantaged groups such as women, children and elderly. VHS manages an extensive community health programme through 14 mini health centers located in the southern periphery of the city of Chennai.

The Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires has supported chosen charities for the last seven years. Donations include US$10,000 to Operation Cleft and the United Kingdom’s Motor Neuron Disease Research during the ICC World Twenty20 2009 and 2014, respectively and SLR one million to Sri Lanka’s Chitra Lane charity during the ICC World Twenty20 2012.