In a deeply compassionate gesture, a UAE-based Indian doctor Dr Shamsheer Vayalil has pledged ₹6 crore (approximately $720,000 USD) to support medical students whose dreams were derailed by the recent Air India AI171 crash. Several young students on that ill-fated flight had lost critical academic materials and suffered emotional trauma en route to exams and internships.
Moved by their stories, the doctor himself an alumnus of an Indian government medical college announced funding for medical supplies, academic resources, and emotional counseling to ensure their education is not permanently disrupted.
The donation has resonated across the global Indian diaspora, where many NRIs especially healthcare professionals see echoes of their own student struggles. Community leaders are now calling this act “a reminder of how diaspora can meaningfully give back.”
Government and embassy officials have lauded the initiative, noting how philanthropy from overseas Indians is becoming increasingly strategic and targeted, not just symbolic.