Thiyagar Nadarajaw

After Thiyagar Nadarajaw graduated from medical college in 1990, he was posted to a district hospital in Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. The hospital director instructed him to take care of the paediatric department. “I hated paediatrics”, recalls Thiyagar. The ward in Sabah did little to change his mind. It was overcrowded and terribly busy. Thiyagar was the only doctor on duty. Indeed, the entire state had only a single paediatrician, 600 km away. The rotation concluded after 3 months and Thiyagar moved to a different department. “It was a relief. I was keen to get on with becoming a surgeon—that had been my ambition since medical school.”