Indian-Australian Professor Ajay Rane OAM has been recognised as #HealthHero by Queensland Health.
Prof. Rane holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Poona and a PhD from James Cook University (JCU).
Prof. Rane was born in United Kingdom to an affluent family.
At the age of five, his parents decided to move back to India with a desire to work and help the people in rural India.
He says, the family settled in a small village in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra.
“I used to take a bus to my school which was twenty five kilometers away from home at a place called Bhusawal.”
Prof. Rane was a finalist Australian of the Year in 2012 and was awarded the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2013.
He has spent two decades treating and operating on women with catastrophic childbirth injuries in some of the world’s poorest countries.
In 2016, he received the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Award for Humanitarian Work in Women’s Health.
In May 2020, he also received an honorary fellowship from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist for his work in advancing women’s health.
With the present recognition Prof. Rane has joined the ranks of Queensland Greats. ⠀
Queensland Health said in a Facebook post:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“One of the city’s most prominent surgeons, Townsville University Hospital’s Prof. Rane, was named a Queensland Great at an awards ceremony last week in Brisbane.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Queensland Health noted that for more than twenty years Prof Rane has galvanised the global medial community.
Prof. Rane has treated women, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, with fistula, the abnormal opening between the vagina and bladder or rectum caused by prolonged and obstructed labour.⠀
Prof. Rane is employed at Townsville Hospital and Health Service.
“We are so proud of Professor Rane and everything he has achieved – not just here at our health service, but globally. He is a true star and we are lucky to have him here in the North!”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
In an old interview, Prof. Rane said that although he does not plan to move back to India in the short-term, however he does not rule out going back either.
Prof. Rane feels that the culture, history and values of India are unparalleled in the world.
“And India today is a super-power in the making. One of the best places to invest.”
Since last year, Prof. Rane has delivered more than one hundred webinars to surgeons in operating theatres from Kenya to the Congo.
A former patient congratulated Prof. Rane on Facebook:
“Congratulations Professor Rane.We all know you are the best teacher and am always grateful you taught Dr. KANNON also.From a grateful patient.”
Others, also took this oportunity to wish Prof. Rane success in his career.
