Dr. Khushdeva Singh (1902–1985) was a Sikh physician from Patiala, Punjab, remembered as a quiet healer who fought tuberculosis, cared for leprosy patients, and showed extraordinary humanity during the bloodshed of Partition. In 1957 the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri for his service.

The doctor of the hills

Born in Patiala in 1902, Khushdeva Singh trained as a doctor and specialised in tuberculosis at a time when the disease was a slow, terrifying death sentence for many. Most of his professional life was spent at the Hardinge Sanatorium in Dharampur (present-day Himachal Pradesh), a hill station where TB patients were sent to breathe cleaner air and receive long treatment.

He was known for his patience and personal attention. Patients remembered a doctor who did not rush.

A young patient, coughing blood, once whispered:

“Doctor Sahib… will I ever go home?”

Khushdeva Singh sat beside the bed, held the young man’s hand, and answered calmly:

“You will. But first we must fight this together. Rest, eat, breathe the mountain air. I will be here every day.”

He stayed true to that promise for years.

Partition: when hatred met humanity

In 1947, as trains full of refugees and corpses crossed the new border, violence tore Punjab apart. Muslims were being hunted in many places. Dr. Khushdeva Singh, a Sikh, opened his doors and treated Muslim patients without hesitation.

He later wrote about those days in his book Love is Stronger Than Hate. One story he often told was of a Muslim family he sheltered and treated when others turned away. When someone warned him of the risk, he simply replied:

“A sick man is not Hindu or Muslim. He is a human being who needs a doctor. That is enough.”

His secular spirit and courage saved lives when fear and revenge were everywhere.

The leprosy colony

After Partition, he turned his attention to another group of outcasts — people suffering from leprosy. In 1958 he founded the Lepers’ Welfare Society in Patiala and established what became known as the Dr. Khushdeva Singh Leprosy Colony (Kushat Ashram). What began as simple thatched huts grew into a place of dignity, where patients could live, work, and receive care instead of being abandoned on the streets.

He remained its guiding force for many years, ensuring the colony became a real home rather than a place of isolation.

Legacy

Dr. Khushdeva Singh wrote two books — In Dedication and Love is Stronger Than Hate — reflecting his deep belief that compassion is stronger than communal hatred. The Padma Shri Dr. Khushdeva Singh Hospital for Chest Diseases in Patiala still carries his name and continues the work against lung diseases he began decades earlier.

He never sought publicity. He simply treated the sick — whether they had tuberculosis, leprosy, or the wounds of Partition — with the same steady care. In an age of division, he proved that a doctor’s true duty is to the human being in front of him, nothing more and nothing less.

Khushdeva Singh left behind more than hospitals and colonies. He left a quiet example of how one person’s decency can push back against darkness.