Medical Career
From 1925 to 1949, Somervell worked at the south Travancore medical mission, which became one of the largest missionary hospitals in the world. He attracted new staff, and built an innovative viewing gallery in the operating theatre where friends and relatives of the patients could observe the surgery and learn about its benefits. This helped build trust between the doctors and the surrounding people, and helped encourage sick people to come for treatment earlier than had been the case in the past. He was also an early pioneer of the treatment of leprosy, which until that time had been considered incurable.
Somervell became an associate professor of surgery at Vellore Christian Medical College in 1949, a post he would hold until his retirement in 1961. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1953 New Year Honours. On his retirement in 1961 he returned to England, and was President of the Alpine Club for three years.
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