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Coventry torture victim Sergio Requena-Rueda says he owes his life to the NHS, which turns 65 today.

The Stoke resident was a broken man when he arrived in this country after fleeing torture in his native Chile.

It was 1977 when he escaped to seek political asylum after being held captive in a concentration camp for opposing the oppressive political regime.

Sergio endured 44 days of physical violence and sustained a spinal injury.

He escaped with his wife and young daughter on the advice of a doctor, bearing the emotional and physical scars of his trauma

He was 30 when he arrived in the UK and scraped together an existence on the benefits he was entitled to, before carving out a 30-year career as an engineer with Marconi.

Now, at 67, he says he credits the National Health Service for the health he now enjoys after receiving extensive treatment in his adopted country over a number of years.

He said: “I was beaten up and electrocuted over the 44 days, and imprisoned underground for fighting the Pinochet regime.

“I couldn’t walk without collapsing. I felt paralysed.

“I kept losing the feeling in different parts of my body, but I didn’t know where the problem was coming from.

“I received counselling and rehabilitative treatment from the NHS over five years.”

He remembers with fondness the kindness with which he was treated by GPs at his family practice in Coventry, and in Leicester where he lived before moving to the city.

Sergio said: “The care was extremely good from everyone who looked after me and I’m very grateful because it enabled me to receive all the treatment I needed to recover.

“Without the care I received it would have taken much longer.”

Sergio became a union representative during his time at Marconi, his employer for 30 years before he retired.

He is now president of the Coventry Trades Council and remains passionate about issues relating to the NHS.

It was established on July 5, 1948, by the health secretary Aneurin Bevan.

For the first time, it brought together hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists under one umbrella organisation to provide free services.

Frank Keogh, Unite the Union representative at George Eliot Hospital, joins Sergio in wising the NHS a happy 65th birthday.

He said: “We should all be proud. We have a healthcare system that continues to provide free healthcare at the point of delivery.”

Both Sergio Requena-Rueda and Frank Keogh will attend a candle-lighting ceremony in the city centre to mark the birth of the NHS. The event takes place today outside Costa Coffee in Upper Precinct at 12.30pm.