The CPC's foreign friends

Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis (October 10, 1910 – December 9, 1942) was one of five Indian physicians dispatched to China to provide medical assistance during China's Anti-Japanese War in 1938.

Kotnis treated more than 2,000 wounded soldiers and performed over 50 operations with his colleagues starting from 1939. He joined the famous Communist Eighth Route Army (Ba Lu Jun), the predecessor of the People's Liberation Army, in January 1941, and was later appointed the director of the Bethune International Peace Hospital. He died of epilepsy in 1942 at the age of 32.

A medical school bearing his name was established in northern China's Shijiazhuang city in 1992, fifty years after his death, to commemorate his dedication and selfless commitment to China. Kotnis continues to be revered by the Chinese people.