Rajni Kanabar

Rajni Kanabar (9 November 1940 – 25 June 2019) was an M.B.B.S. doctor and philanthropist belonging to the third generation of an Indian-origin family in Tanzania. He was the founder-chairman of Regency Medical Centre in Dar es Salaam, and the initiator-convenor of the Tanzania Heart Babies Project, which he established in the year 1979. Born in Mwanza, he was presented with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award as a person of Indian origin, from the Government of India in 2010, for facilitating the surgeries of children in Tanzania suffering from congenital heart diseases. He also received the PBS Award Label from the High Commission of India in Tanzania in 2013, and the Order of the United Republic of Tanzania Medal in 2014. Through this project, he facilitated surgeries of children from Tanzania, suffering from repairable congenital or rheumatic heart defect, at highly subsidized rates, both, in India and Tanzania. In 1999, he established the Regency Medical Centre, a private hospital, in Dar es Salaam. During his role as the hospital's chairman, Dr. Rajni Kanabar collaborated with a number of state-of-the-art hospitals in India such as Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Institute, Bangalore, Sathya Sai Heart Institute, Andhra Pradesh, Fortis Escort Heart Institute, New Delhi and Sri Sathya Sai Hospital, Rajkot to conduct these heart surgeries. Until 2016, 3600 children orthopaedic hip and knee replacement camps and free eye screening camp at the Regency Medical Centre, throughout his tenure. He also played a key role in introducing an advanced laparoscopic surgery program to the country, thus, making Regency Medical Centre the first hospital in Tanzania that deployed laparoscopy procedure for surgeries. Under his leadership, Regency Medical Centre has also provided 59,000 haemodialysis sessions at subsidized rates. In 2013, he received the PBS medal by the High Commission of India in Dar es Salaam. On 25 April 2014, he was presented with the 'Order of the United Republic Medal' by the former President of Tanzania, Dr. Jakaya Kikwete.