Physician, philanthropist Gur Singh passes

NEWS — A long-time Kamloops physician, community supporter and political activist died Tuesday in Royal Inland Hospital.

Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Gur Singh was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, last year. He was 79.

In recent years, he was best known as the patron of the Gur Singh Invitational Golf Tournament, a fundraiser for the Kamloops Brain Injury Association, which has run since 2004. Brain injury survivors called Singh a “hero.”

During his medical career, he was chief of staff at RIH, head of the B.C. Medical Association and a critic of provincial healthcare policies.

Singh also briefly tried his hand at politics. He was a contender for the provincial Liberal nomination in 1999 and was, for a time, regarded as the frontrunner, only to lose out to Claude Richmond.

Following his retirement, Singh continued to make news for his views on health care. Three years ago he blasted the Interior Health Authority for what he called “hallway medicine.” He said the IHA didn’t “know what the hell to do” about funding problems.

In 2012, Singh questioned the master plan for upgrading Royal Inland Hospital, saying it was about politics and that funding would probably be elsewhere after the provincial election that year.

“It’s not going to happen in my lifetime,” he said of the RIH upgrades, during a Rotary meeting.

During the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Singh was an invited torchbearer, calling it “one of the most memorable events for me in my 50 years in Canada…. The crowds, the national pride, the Canadian flags on people’s faces, on the buildings, on the cards in people’s hands, is something that gives you goose bumps and something I will never forget.”