5 doctors turned IAS officers you should know about
In India, becoming a doctor is the dream of many youngsters and is also one of the most respected professions. Being a doctor is not easy and needs a lot of commitment and dedication. However, there are some doctors who gave up their medical careers to join the civil services and serve people in a different way. Here are five doctors turned IAS officers.
Shena Aggarwal, the topper of the 2011 UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE), is a popular doctor-turned-IAS officer. Before bagging AIR-1 in CSE-2011, she had completed her MBBS from AIIMS, New Delhi in 2009 and also secured AIR-305 in CSE-2010. Notably, she was training for the Indian Revenue Service while preparing for CSE-2011. She is the additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of Bhatinda, Punjab.
Arun Thamburaj, a doctor from Tamil Nadu, gave up a potentially lucrative medical career to become an IAS officer. He had cracked CSE-2010 and got accepted to the IPS. However, he pursued his dream of becoming an IAS officer and bagged AIR-6 in CSE-2012 in his second attempt and joined the IAS. He's currently posted as the district magistrate of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu.
Dr. Syed Sabahat Azim is one of the famous doctors turned IAS officers in the country. However, the 2000-batch officer left the IAS in 2010 to become a healthcare entrepreneur. Dr. Azim is currently the founder and CEO of the Kolkata-based Glocal Healthcare Systems, which aims to make quality healthcare services accessible to the rural population by setting up low-cost yet efficient hospitals.
K Vijayakarthikeyan is another well-known doctor-turned-IAS officer from Tamil Nadu. After graduating in medicine in 2009, he had cracked the 2010 UPSC CSE and joined the IAS. He is currently the district collector and district magistrate in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu. Notably, the 2011-batch IAS officer is also an author.
Roman Saini, who completed MBBS from AIIMS, New Delhi in 2013, opted to appear for the UPSC Civil Services Examination. He cracked the CSE-2013 with AIR-18 at the age of 22 to join the IAS. However, he later resigned and co-founded Unacademy in 2016.
