Padma Vibhushan for ORS man brings cheers to med fraternity in Bengal

KOLKATA: The conferring of the second highest civilian award on Dr Dilip Mahalanabis has brought cheer among doctors, scientists and researchers in Bengal. Known as ‘the ORS man’, has been posthumously conferred the Padma Vibhushan for his contribution in the field of medicine.
The doctor-scientist, whose name is synonymous with oral rehydration therapy (ORT) because of his contribution in the development of this simple, yet life-saving solution and popularising it, passed away in Kolkata last October at the age of 88.
“Malanabis’s contribution to public health is unparalleled and outstanding, specially his contribution in developing ORS and its use. This recognition is long overdue. But better late than never. We are happy that his work has finally been recognised by the Government of India,” said Shanta Dutta, scientist and director ICMR-NICED Kolkata.
A trained paediatrician, Mahalanabis ventured into public health when he started working on ORT in 1966 as a research scholar for John Hopkins University International Centre for Medical Research and Training in Kolkata along with doctors David R Nalin and Richard A Cash. The team had developed ORS and its efficacy had been tried only under controlled condition until the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War broke out.
Nearly 10 million people crossed over to border districts of Bengal where massive cholera epidemic broke. This is when Mahalabis introduced ORS in the refugee camps even before it was yet to be recommended for treatment. The magical potion brought down mortality from 30% to 3% and the world accepted the ORT.
“I had the opportunity to work with this great scientist closely for two decades. Since he was already well regarded worldwide his association helped us bag many international collaborative research projects,” said Dipika Sur, former scientist at ICMR-NICED.
Calcutta University’s former vice chancellor Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee said, “Dr Mahalanabis was a public-spirited genius and it is our privilege that we could confer upon him an honorary D.Sc. from our university in January 2019 at a time when not too many honours came to this peerless scientist.”
(Inputs by Poulami Roy)