Dr. N.S Murali, The Honorary Secretary of the Voluntary Health Services, Chennai, breathed his last on 5th May, 2009 in London. Dr. Murali was on a holiday in England, visiting his relatives. According to family sources, Dr. Murali stepped out for his regular morning walk and collapsed suddenly.

Dr. Murali was an eminent general surgeon, from the class of 1964 from Madras Medical College. A deeply committed doctor, he followed the foot steps of his mentor, the late Dr. K.S. Sanjivi, founder of Voluntary Health Services and carried the vision of his mentor, to provide quality medical care for people irrespective of their capacity to pay. His attachment to VHS was from its initiation in the year 1958, where he served as consultant and later headed the surgical department from 1964.

He became the secretary of VHS in the year 1985 and has served the VHS for more than 50 years in an honorary capacity. The VHS which started with a few beds is now a multi specialty hospital with more than 400 beds with various specialties such as neurology, nephrology, ophthalmic, gynecology, and general surgery to name a few. Dr. Murali has also endeavored to develop VHS as an institution which offers post-graduate courses in surgery, gynecology and neuro- surgery, apart from offering courses in nursing, and nutrition.

Dr. Murali was instrumental in initiating the AIDS Prevention and Control Project, the first bilateral HIV/AIDS project in India funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and has continued to support and guide the program for the last 13 years. A doctor who had a deep understanding of public health, Dr. Murali believed in motivating and encouraging NGOs to spread awareness on diseases in communities and making medical care available to people closer to their door steps. As a person who was known to be NGO friendly, Dr. Murali always had time for people representing various civil societies.

Dr. Murali lived a dedicated life to the mission he believed in. At the age of 73 he performed atleast one surgery everyday, managed the operations of VHS and two large HIV/AIDS projects apart from dedicating time for his private practice. His wife passed away barely a month ago.