Dr Kantha Soni, Auckland, MNZM
For services to medicine and the community. Dr Soni was the first Indian woman in New Zealand to graduate from the Otago medical school. She spent two years working in a clinic in Fiji catering for low income families. In New Zealand she practiced in a West Coast mining settlement, Lower Hutt, and the North Shore. She worked for 10 years in Central Auckland, as a Medical Officer in Child and Family Health, and also developed and ran high school adolescent clinics. She also held clinics and health talks for street kids, in association with the Auckland Youth Resource Centre and undertook a pilot scheme of educating Indian women on health issues. She was a member of the Pacific Island Health and Welfare Committee and the North Shore Care and Protection Resource Panel. She was Founding President of the Auckland Indian Medical Society and a co-founder of the New Zealand Indian Senior Citizens Association in 1990. She has been an active member of Soroptimist International since 1972 and now in retirement enjoys the stimulating activities of the University of the Third Age.