 The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1962, for his contributions to medicine.Born in Ambala, in the present day Haryana to Dunichand Ambalvi, a lawyer, he did his education at Anglo Sanskrit High School, Government College, Lahore and King Edward Medical College after which he worked at Hammersmith Hospital, London, simultaneously completing the MRCP course.His Indian career started in 1938 when he joined Indian Army Medical Corps where he worked for 7 years, reaching the rank of a lieutenant colonel, till his move to Irwin Hospital (presently Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital), New Delhi in 1945.