During the War of Resistance against Japan, an Indian medical team of five doctors, sent by the National Congress of India, came to China to support China's efforts in fighting back. Among them was a young surgeon who treated soldiers of the Eighth Route Army. He was appointed the first president of the Bethune Peace Hospital, joined the Communist Party, and eventually fell ill from constant overwork and passed away. His name was D K Kotnis, otherwise known as Ke Dihua to his Chinese colleagues.

Kotnis was born in a village in Mumbai, India, in 1910. He graduated from medical school in 1936 and joined the Communist Party in July 1942.

After Kotnis died on December 9, 1942 in China, Mao Zedong wrote this couplet as a tribute to him: "Our army has lost a supporting arm; our people have lost a friend. Ke Dihua's international humanitarianism will never be forgotten".

After the New China was founded, Ke Dihua's tomb was moved to the martyrs' cemetery in the North China Military Region. The Ke Dihua Memorial Hall was built in 1976 in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province.

(China.org.cn November 18, 2005)