Anbumani Ramadoss

Anbumani Ramadoss is an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu, India. He is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India from Tamil Nadu.Anbumani was the Minister of Health and Family Welfare in the First Manmohan Singh ministry from (2004-2009) as a part of the UPA government. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India from Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu. He is also the youth wing president of the Pattali Makkal Katchi.

Anbumani was born on 9 October 1968 at Puducherry to S. Ramadoss and R. Saraswathi. Ramadoss was a physician by profession, who later founded the Pattali Makkal Katchi in 1989. Anbumani completed his SSLC from Montfort Boys Higher Secondary School, Yercaud in 1984 and finished his higher secondary in 1986 from St. Ann's Higher Secondary School, Tindivanam. He completed his MBBS from Madras Medical College. He spent a year and a half stint serving as a medical practitioner at Nallalam, a small village near Tindivanam. In 2003, Anbumani did a course on macro-economics from the London School of Economics.

Anbumani joined Pattali Makkal Katchi, founded by his father and became the youth wing president. In 2004, he became a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Minister of Health and Family Welfare

On 22 May 2004, Anbumani became as the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India. At the time of induction into the Manmohan Singh's 2004 cabinet, Anbumani was the youngest Cabinet Minister in the Union Cabinet. During his tenure, the ministry set up various institutions like the Public Health Foundation of India, Department of Health Research, National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library. As the Union Health Minister, Anbumani established the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2005 to provide primary health care to the women and children living in the rural parts of India. The project was lauded as ‘the largest successful health scheme to be implemented anywhere in the world’ by economist Jeffrey Sachs. The NRHM was set up to achieve the health targets set in the millennium development goals and to integrate various public health programs like the National Malaria Eradication Program, National Immunization Program and the National Polio Eradication Program. Anbumani introduced 108 ambulance service based on 911 service in the United States.

Under Anbumani, the ministry of health brought stringent regulations against the sale of tobacco products. Anbumani initiated a National Alcohol Policy for the first time in India and advocated for 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi to be observed as World No-Alcohol day. Anbumani along with T D Dogra, the then Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi expanded the institution to Jhajjar district of Haryana. New departments were established and redevelopment was carried out. National Institute of Siddha, Tambaram Sanatorium, Chennai was inaugurated by Anbumani on 3 September 2005.

Member of Parliament

He became a Member of Parliament from Dharmapuri Lok Sabha Constituency in 2014 as a part of the NDA with Bharatiya Janata Party. On 6 October 2015, Anbumani offered to quit the NDA if his decision could help find a permanent solution to the problems of the Sri Lankan Tamils.

State assembly elections

Anbumani was declared as the Chief Ministerial Candidate from PMK for the 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections. He contested from Pennagaram and lost by 18,446 vote.

The General Secretary of United Nations Ban Ki-moon described him as a ‘public health champion’. President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented him with a memento of appreciation on 29 March 2014 at the inauguration of Rotary International’s Polio-Free Conclave 2014 in New Delhi. He was awarded with the Luther L. Terry Award by the American Cancer Society in 2006. Anbumani received World Health Organization Director General’s Special Award for Leadership and Special Award for tobacco control in 2007. Rotary International awarded Polio Eradication Champion Award in 2007. The Rotary club of Madras presented Anbumani with a ‘For the sake of Honour' award in recognition of his contribution to tobacco control and rural healthcare in 2008.

Anbumani is married to Sowmiya and has three daughters. Anbumani heads a NGO Pasumai Thaayagam, which was founded in 1995 by his father S. Ramadoss. The NGO focuses on planting trees, desilting lakes and building check dams to conserve water. It also advocates for the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils. Anbumani is currently the President of the Tamil Nadu Badminton Association. He advocates for the ban of alcohol and tobacco products.