Dr. Paul Brand - The Hand Man (17th July 1914 - 8th November 2003)

A career in medicine? India needs you!

He was invited to teach surgery at Vellore Christian Medical College in India. India was about to gain independence from Britain, and the College was being expanded with nearly $1million worth of new buildings. It was a marvellous opportunity for such a young surgeon.

As he got off the ship in 1946 and travelled by train into the interior of India, the sights and smells brought back all his memories - it was as if he had never left 23 years ago.

Every day, hundreds poured through the gates of Vellore , clogging verandas and corridors, squatting outside the doors of every department. Paul was fascinated by the variety of people, and stirred by their need for healing, although he was very busy all the time.

Paul was a good teacher, and popular with the medical students. In the operating room he insisted that each student had every possible chance to operate, and was never harassed or hurried by their inexperience. On the wards, they learned more from his bedside manner than from his lectures. It was obvious that he cared deeply about each patient.

He was as popular a preacher as he was a teacher. Whenever he preached at the college or in the hospital chapel, the mats spread on the polished stone floor were crowded with students. He talked the language of medical students, drawing spiritual lessons from their medical experiences. 'Last week, a patient was dying of measles. A call went out for a person recovering from measles to give blood. Why? Because that person had suffered the disease and had overcome it. Just as Christ suffered for our disease, sin, so that he might help us overcome.'