Introduction to preventive medicine (1924-1948)
41 7.1.41 Ministry The Committee regard both Dr Pandit’s
of views and Dr Theiler’s findings as extremely
Health & important
FP for any programme for the control or eradication
(Deptt of Aedes aegypti, and dengue fever. The
of Committee are concerned to observe that while
launching a major programme against Aedes
Health) aegypti, no serious consideration appears to
have been given by the Ministry of Health or
the Indian Council of Medical Research for more
than three years to the questions posed by Dr
Pandit on the eradication of Aedes aegypti.
What is even more distressing is the fact that
Dr Pandit’s views had been dismissed as
‘thoughts’ raised in a lecture and no attempts
had been made by the Ministry to seriously
examine this aspect. Such a casual approach
to scientific problems is, in the opinion of the
Committee, a matter of serious concern.
42 7.1.42 Ministry Though the Director – General, Health Services
of stated during evidence that this subject has
Health & been discussed at length between various
FP virologists, immunologists and Public health
workers and he himself had discussed it with
(Deptt Dr Pandit a number of times, the Committee
of have not been furnished with any documentary
Health) evidence to support this contention. In fact, the
Ministry of Health themselves have admitted
in a written note submitted to the Committee
that consultation with other experts had not
been considered as the thoughts raised by Dr
Pandit in his lecture were not to be construed
as a warning against the programme.
43 7.1.43 Ministry There is also no evidence on record to prove
of that Dr Pandit’s views were duly considered by
Health & the ICMR. The minutes of the review meetings
contain no reference to this aspect. Even
FP presuming that the ‘cross protection’ theory
was only a hypothesis, the Committee feel that
both the Indian Council of Medical Research
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(Deptt and the Ministry of Health ought to have
of examined this in detail before proceeding with
the field studies on Aedes aegypti. That this
Health) was not done would lead the Committee to
the conclusion that the approach to the Aedes
aegypti experiments was not scientific.
The whole episode made me very sad. It is perhaps true that Indian scientists
had not been seriously conscious in the past. While I do hold the views expressed in
the oration, I was worried that because of the tenor of the discussions in the Public
Accounts Committee, there might be impediments in the scientific collaboration
between Indian and other bodies which is so essential for the progress of science
in this country and elsewhere.
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CHAPTER XIV
I GET THE O.B.E.!
On June the 2nd 1943, I was agreeably surprised to see my name in the birth
day Honours List of His Majesty, King George VI. I was awarded the O.B.E.
I had the feeling, though no reference was made to it, this was because of
my so-called ‘war effort’ in connection with my assignment vis-a-vis yellow fever.
Lord Hope, the Governor of Madras Province, sent me a letter of congratulations
and Lady Hope also wrote a letter to my wife expressing satisfaction that my “hard
work” had been suitably recognised. The “Current Science”, in its issue of June, the
6th 1943, wrote as follows:
“Current Science notes with satisfaction that the work done by scientific
institutions is being increasingly recognized by the Government. We record with
pleasure the conferment of O.B.E on Dr Pandit”.
“Dr Pandit is the first permanent Indian Director of the King Institute of
Preventive Medicine, Guindy, one of the few leading Indian Medical Research
Institutions in this country. After a brilliant career, Dr Pandit proceeded to England
for further studies and secured the Ph.D. degree of the London University for
research in Bacteriology”.
“He entered service in the Indian Research Fund Association and was posted
to Madras. He was the first Professor of Bacteriology in the Madras Medical College
where he was extremely popular with the students. He held the much coveted
Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship which brought him into touch with the leading
American bacteriologists”.
“In 1934, he was selected as the delegate of the Government of India to attend
the session of the Congress of the Far Eastern Association of Tropical Medicine
held at Nanking, China. In 1939, he received the Minto Gold Medal for distinguished
work in Tropical Medicine by an Indian for the year. At the outbreak of the present
World War, he was specially deputed to America by the Government of India
to study the problem of yellow fever, as a possible menace on account of the
speeding of air transport”.
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“In 1942, he delivered the Presidential Address of the Medical Section of the
Indian Science Congress, making his mark as the foremost worker in the profession
of the year. He is aged 48 years”.
“Dr Pandit has initiated and carried out outstanding researches in vaccinia
virus, tissue culture, filariasis and fluorosis. A man of singular charm, affable,
persuasive and polished manners, a fluent and informed speaker, he combines in
him the best of the East and the West. His many friends in India and elsewhere
would rejoice at this well-deserved recognition by the Government. Current
Science offers its felicitations to Dr Pandit and no doubt that the Institute he
directs would take greater strides under his able guidance and lead him to still
greater distinction!”
I received many letters of congratulations including those of Col. Cotter, Col.
Shortt, Sir Jogendra Singh from Delhi and from Sir C.V. Raman!
However, an amusing incident occurred in my own Institute. There was
working at the time in my institute, a Chinese lady doctor deputed by the
Government of China. The Government of India had arranged her training in my
Institute. She was working in my laboratory. When she saw that morning officers
and others going in and out of laboratory after congratulating me for the honour I
had received, she asked “Sir, what are they congratulating you for?”
“For the award of the O.B.E. by the Government of India” I replied. “O.B.E.?”
“What does that mean?”
“The Order of the British Empire” I replied.
After a little hesitation she asked “Sir, what did you have to do against your
country to deserve this ‘honour’!
I need not relate what conversation took place further. I found out later that
she was afraid of communists. When she left, she warned me not to write to her.
Years later, she sent me a message through one of the visitors that she was working
in a laboratory in Shanghai and was doing well. She did not give her address and I
could not acknowledge the message!
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CHAPTER XV
ALL INDIA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES:
THE CONCEPT- THEN AND NOW
I
(a) Introduction
I was a member of the Research Committee on the Health Survey
and Development Committee, popularly known as the Bhore Committee. Sir
Joseph Bhore was its Chairman. While attending the meetings of the Research
Committee in Delhi, I had opportunities to know, through my discussions with Dr
K.C.K. Raja, the Secretary of the Committee, what was being discussed in other
fields, particularly in the fields of medical education and public heath, in which I
was also interested. The Bhore Committee was discussing then, what came to be
known later, as their “three million plan” —a concept of a comprehensive medical
care programme for both urban and rural areas by creating a chain of primary
and secondary health centres, and also a central referral centre in the area.
Obviously to put the plan into effect a large number of doctors would be required.
The burden of producing them could not have been borne by the then 18 or odd
medical colleges existing in the country. However, if more medical colleges were
to be established where were the teachers to man them? The idea of an institute
primarily for the purpose of training medical teachers was thus mooted.
I was told that during the discussion there were frequent references to the
Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, USA, and the role it had played in
improving the standard of medical education in USA. It might be recalled that, as
Abraham Flexner had pointed in his report published in 1910, medical education
in the USA was indeed in a sorry state of affairs, almost in all its aspects—in the
composition of the teaching faculty, the curriculum, selection of students, duration
of the course and such other matters. The Johns Hopkins Medical School soon
after the publication of that report, set a tradition and its alumni serving later in
other institutions, helped to raise their standard. It was, therefore, expected that
an institute of its type in India would achieve the same result in due course.
It so happened that Prof. A.V. Hill, the Secretary of the Royal Society in London,
was in India at the time at the invitation of the Government of India. He had
detailed discussions with the Bhore Committee on the question of the proposed
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institute and a tentative scheme was proposed in consultation with him. Indeed,
it came to be known thereafter as Prof Hill’s scheme. Apparently, the concept that
the institute was to be on the model of the Johns Hopkins Medical School was
stressed, for when the minutes of the meeting were sent to Lord Wavell, the then
Viceroy of India, he sent for the Director-General of the Indian Medical Service, Sir
Bennet Hance, and asked him whether he had visited that Institute in Baltimore.
When he said that he had not, Lord Wavell suggested that he should visit it at
once and added that he should take an Indian along with him. I was chosen to
accompany Sir Bennet Hance.
I was not, of course, aware of these developments at the time. I was, therefore,
surprised when I received a telegram in Madras to proceed to Karachi by air and
join Sir Bennet Hance on the trip to UK.
This was the genesis of our deputation to U.K., U.S.A. and Canada and to
study and report on the modern trends in medical education and research. The
deputation commenced at Karachi on the 12th August 1944 and terminated at
New Delhi on the 8th January 1945. I was placed for one month on duty in New
Delhi to write the report before I returned to Madras to resume my normal duties
in the King Institute, Guindy.
In what follows, I would like to relate some interesting experiences during
my sojourn in England during war time, ‘traveller’s tales’ really, and then refer to
the views expressed and suggestions made by various authorities in UK and USA
regarding the proposed new medical institution in India and finally indicate how
the project ultimately took shape.
(b) Sojourn in wartime England
The Tatas had established an air service in the country, the Tata Airlines.
Accordingly, I left Madras by air for Bombay. The pilot of the aircraft was my own
cousin, Capt. Naralkar. The plane did not go to Bombay directly and there was
a night halt at Hyderabad. During the journey Capt. Naralkar told me that the
wireless equipment of the aircraft was not functioning properly. On reaching
Bombay we were transferred to another aircraft bound for Ahmedabad, Bhuj and
Karachi. While nearing Surat the aircraft developed engine trouble and we came
back to Bombay to board another plane. As it happened it was the same plane
that had brought me from Madras to Bombay. We were only three passengers
travelling by the plane at that time. I asked the pilot, Capt. Bairamshaw whether the
wireless equipment was in order. He assured me that it was. We were, of course,
late when we arrived at Ahmedabad and it was much later in the evening when we
arrived at Bhuj. On taking off at Bhuj we encountered a severe thunderstorm and
it was soon evident that the wireless apparatus was not functioning at all. Capt.
Bayramshaw could not get the necessary bearings and as I remember now, he was
very nervous. Beads of perspiration stressed from his face. Ultimately, he told us
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that he might have to make a force landing and therefore, was thinking of making
a headway towards the sea. Fortunately, we were not too far from the coast and
when he noticed a glow of lights in the sky, he knew that he was not too far from
Karachi. He gave us the Churchillian V sign and we landed at about 10pm at the
Karachi airport. I was late in reaching Karachi and Gen. Hance was really worried
whether I would be arriving in time for the onward journey. The next morning,
we hoarded a Sunderland flying boat and started on the journey to London. We
spent the night in Bahrain and reached Cairo the next day in the evening. After
a night’s halt at Cairo, we started our onward journey to London. We landed in
Bengazi and later in the evening at Gibralter. We were rather surprised to note
that there was absolutely no sign of any naval activity in the port and no man-of-
war was in sight anywhere. We were to know the reason later. I was amused to
see the British passengers including Sir Bennet Hance bringing whole bunches of
bananas for taking them to London. Apparently, bananas were scarce there. After
a day’s halt we proceeded to London. We did not take a direct route to London but
were routed via Ireland to avoid the German aircraft and landed at Poole on the
southern coast of England. From Poole we travelled by train to Paddington. The
journey was uneventful.
Watching the children playing on the wayside I could not help remarking
on excellent health they were in. Whatever may have been the food scarcity, the
British had seen to it that what was essential for them was readily made available.
We arrived at Paddington railway station at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Hardly
as we had got down, a flying bomb, the Vi, fell not far from the station with what
result I need hardly mention. I was really unnerved and asked Gen. Hance “Where
was the urgency, Sir, of taking this trip now?” Gen. Hance replied that it was Lord
Wavell’s idea of making the institute India’s War Memorial!
During our sojourn in London, we had to see many distinguished educationists
and scientists and discuss with them and obtain their ideas on the proposed
institute to be established in India. Summaries of our discussions and the views
which were expressed would be referred to in detail elsewhere in this narrative but
there were some very interesting episodes which occurred and which might be of
interest to record.
I had a fairly comfortable room in the Berner’s Hotel in Oxford Street. Flying
bomb attacks were a regular feature at the time. These attacks occurred like clock
work at hourly intervals during the twenty-four hours. If they started at 7 am in the
morning, it would be regular to an hour thereafter. We knew therefore, when the
attack would begin and when it would cease. This was rather very convenient so
far as I was concerned, because such duties as going to bath room etc. could be
arranged during the attack-free period. We never knew where the bomb would
fall and I did not like the idea of being trapped in the debris while in the bath room.
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The next morning I went to the India Office where we were provided with
office accommodation for our work. Sir E.W.C. Bradfield whom I had known
before as the Professor of Surgery in the Madras Medical College and later as the
Director-General of the Indian Medical Service in Delhi, was the Medical Adviser to
the Secretary of State for India and he had made all the necessary arrangements
for the purpose.
When I got ready to go to the office the next day, I realised the problem I would
face in having clean shirts and collars every day during our sojourn in London. The
hotel had no laundry facilities and the laundry service in the city was completely
paralyzed owing to daily bomb attacks. When I explained my predicament to Gen
Hance the next day he at once asked me to bring my laundry to the office. “Office,
Sir?” I asked. “Yes, sorry, I did not tell you about it earlier”. Gen. Hance had already
made arrangements to send his and my laundry every week by post to his sister in
New Bury near Oxford. His sister used to send it back by post to wherever we were.
I was deeply touched by this gesture and never ceased bragging about it later
saying that I was such a VIP that my laundry used to be sent by post backwards
and forwards.
Soon after our arrival in London, Sir A.V. Hill met us and indicated to us the
arrangements that were made for us to discharge our duties. He then mentioned
that the Athenian Club in London was honouring visiting scientists by making
them temporary members. I did not realise then what this gesture really meant
because I did not know then that membership of the Athenian Club was regarded
as a privilege of a high order. Since I was a scientist I was made the member but
not General Sir Bennet Hance. When I expressed my feelings to him he explained,
“Well, CG, they all know that you are a scientist and I am not and so why should
you worry? I am happy that they have made you a member”. One day at lunch
time out of sheer cussedness I said, “Well, Sir, would you like to have lunch with
me at the Athenian?” With a twinkle in his eyes, he replied “Most certainly, you
have already started bragging about it, haven’t you?” Since we were pressed for
time we decided to have a buffet lunch and when I presented the bill to the lady at
the counter, she exclaimed “Dr Pandit, do you mean to say that you had a guest?’
She was obviously annoyed. “Am I not allowed to bring guests?” I enquired. “Of
course, you are; but when you bring guests you should always treat them not with
a ‘buffet’ lunch but you should reserve a table and treat them with the courtesy
which a member of the Athenian club must show to his guests”.
One afternoon when we were working at our tables in the office, an air raid
alarm went off and Gen. Hance and I were discussing whether we should go to
the shelter provided for such an emergency. Ultimately, we decided to take shelter
under our working tables for there was no time, we felt, to run down to the shelter.
Then our secretary came in and said, “Well Sir, you need not bother; this one is
not for us”. Roof watchers on the top of the building always noted the direction
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of the flying bomb and they could always sense where its destination was likely
to be. Such occurrences were of course very frequent. In the hotel we were told
to sleep with a pillow over face, lest the shattering pieces of glass cause us any
injury. It was of course difficult to sleep with a pillow on the face. We spent the
whole month under such conditions and it was surprising how quickly you got
accustomed to this sort of daily life. We really ceased to bother about flying bombs
and took shelter in the philosophy that if your name was on it there was nothing
that you could do about it!
One evening I was invited to dine at the Athenian Club at the invitation of Sir
Joseph Ledingham, the Director of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine. I
thought it better to acquaint myself with the topography during the day, so that
I did not lose my way during the black out at night. Even so it was not easy to
reach the Club. The underground stations were then used by many as air raid
shelters during the night and the platforms were full of people trying to sleep. We
had to wade carefully through them to board the train. On return journey I had
again some difficulty and when I boarded the train eventually rather in haste, I felt
uncertain whether I am travelling in the right direction. A lady sitting at the far end
of the compartment walked towards me and enquired why I was looking agitated.
She assured me that I was in the right train for my destination. I mention this
merely to indicate how the people were most anxious to help each other in such
emergencies which were very common. The proverbial aloofness of the British
was gone. I could not help feeling whether this change was temporary or whether
the British would revert to their national character after the war was over. To go
about in London in those days was always a hazard. I remember I was invited to
tea one afternoon by my friend Dr Katial who was a Municipal Councillor of some
Borough wherein he lived. As I reached his place there was an air raid alarm and he
had to leave immediately to take his post as Warden area. I had to walk back home
immediately. While I was on my way a flying bomb fell not far from me and there
was the usual debris around. It was a marvellous escape. I collected a piece of the
flying bomb as a memento which I still possess.
Then, one weekend, we decided to leave London and spend it at Newbury,
near Oxford, and thus enjoy a good night’s rest from the flying bombs. Gen. Hance
asked me to get the tickets for both of us. At the railway station I had to wait in a
long queue to get them and when we boarded the train we had to stand in the
corridor. Gen. Hiance had made arrangements for my stay with a friend of his,
Brigadier Halloway. He was a retired officer of the Indian army. He was waiting for
me in his home. After a few pleasantries he asked me whether I had any objection
to meat and whisky. When I said I had none, he said, “In that case we will get on
well together”. It was the most interesting weekend which I spent with him. He
told me about the arrangements made to fight the Germans if they succeed in
reaching Oxford; he took me round the countryside and showed me the roadblocks
in order to obstruct any advance of the German army and ultimately exclaimed
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“Dr Pandit, we were determined to fight with kitchen knives if it came to that. I
might be killed but I would take one German with me”.
The trip to Oxford, however, taught us one lesson. We had a number of
appointments to keep in different places in England and Scotland. To travel by train
in this manner would have been a wasteful procedure. Sir Bennet Hance asked me
to ascertain whether, in the event of his succeeding in getting a car allotted to us
by the Government, the Indian High Commissioner in London would agree- to
bear the expenses. Sir Samuel Ranganathan, whom I had known in Madras, was
the High Commissioner. I said that since I knew him I might try to persuade him to
do so. I discussed the matter with Sir Samuel. He just looked hard at me and said
“Dr Pandit, do you really think that you will get a car allotted to you for journeys in
England and Scotland and that you would be provided with the necessary petrol
for the purpose? The whole idea is fantastic.” “Sir,” I replied, “the question is in case
we succeed, would the Indian High Commission sanction the expenditure?” He
was so sure that we would fail in our attempt that he agreed to bear the expenses
in case we succeeded in making arrangements as contemplated. Next day I told
him that we had a car allotted to us, an Austin 12— with the services of a chauffeur
too.I had to show him the coupons for 75 gallons of petrol given to us, to convince
him. He obviously was surprised and wanted to know how that was done. I said I
did not know but Sir Bennet Hance had made all the arrangements. This showed,
however, the importance given to our mission by the British Government. Sir
Samuel had eventually to foot the bill.
Thereafter we made all our journeys by car. We had to keep our appointments
with the medical authorities at Oxford, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and
Cambridge. We first went to Oxford. As we left Oxford for Birmingham I said to
Sir Bennet whether he would mind our going via Stratford-on-Avon since I had
not seen the birth place of Shakespeare. “Certainly, my boy”, he said, and we went
there. We reached Birmingham rather late, about 8 O’clock in the night. We
found to our utter dismay that we had no reservations in the Hotel where we were
asked to go and on enquiries we also found that there was absolutely no chance
of getting any accommodation anywhere during the night. I suggested that we
might have dinner somewhere and spend the night in the car. Before doing so Sir
Bennet said he would try and find out whether Dr L. G. Parsons, the Dean of the
School whom we had to meet the next day, would help us in the matter. Dr Parsons
asked us to meet him after dinner at the Queen’s hospital. When we reached the
Hospital we were met by the matron who said that she had instructions to provide
accommodation for us. To our surprise we found ourselves occupying a two-bedded
ward in the hospital. Next morning we got up and I asked Sir Bennet to get ready
first. While he was shaving, a staff nurse walked in. Sir Bennet asked her whether
and where we would get our breakfast. She looked rather amazed and promptly
assured us saying, “Well Sir, everything will be taken care of, Sir” and departed in
haste. I could not help telling Sir Bennet that she had apparently mistaken us for
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patients and that she would come back soon to take our temperatures! Instead,
however, the staff sister walked in and profusely apologised for the rude behaviour
of the nurse. She had mistaken us for patients suffering from shell shock. The
Battle of Caen was on and the hospital was receiving casualties all the time.
We had our breakfast and sent for our car. I asked Chesney, our chauffeur,
what sort of a night did he have. “No Sir, I was nearly operated last night. I had a
bed in the general ward and frequently the nurse would come along and try to
take me to the operation theatre or somewhere and it was after some persuasion
that she would believe that I was not a casualty. No Sir, I would not stay in this
place anymore”. All the same we could not help admiring the solidarity of the
medical profession which in an emergency would not hesitate to accommodate
distinguished visitors in the hospital and that too without payment!
We left Birmingham the next day. Our next destination was Liverpool. As we
approached Liverpool, Sir Bennet said that he would take me to a very interesting
pub. I asked “Interesting? from what point of view?” “You will see” he replied.
When we arrived there the pub was almost deserted and two American soldiers,
on leave from Normandy, were having a glass of beer. We went around the pub
and saw a room which was fitted like parliament. There was the speaker’s chair
and chairs for members of the political parties. Some chairs had even some names
scribbled on them. I was told that this was a very favourite resort even now, where
the local gentry held discussions a sort of mock parliament. When we were at
the bar the two soldiers asked us where we were bound for. They were told that
ultimately we will be reaching the United States in due course. They were very
free and talked without inhibition even though Sir Bennet wore the uniform of
Lt General. Gen. Hance offered them a glass of beer and we left the pub rather
in a hurry lest we might get involved into further conversation with the soldiers,
perhaps to the embarrassment of the General.
From Liverpool we went to Manchester and then to Edinburgh. The journey
was most uneventful except for periodical alarms and occasional attacks of flying
bombs. The flying bomb attacks were mostly concentrated on London. After
finishing our assignments in all these places we returned to London, looked into
our notes, discussed the problems that had arisen as a result of our discussion and
then got ready to leave for the United States.
(c) En route to USA
Accordingly one morning we went to Poole, boarded a plane there, a flying
boat again, and arrived at Port Shannon in Ireland, en route to USA. When we
arrived there we found the airport crowded with three plane loads of passengers,
all of them British citizens waiting because of bad weather for their onward journey
to USA. It was difficult to find accommodation and ultimately Gen. Hance and
I were billetted in a house about 30 miles away from the airport. We had taken
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our breakfast, lunch and dinner, however, at the airport restaurant. The very first
evening when we went for dinner, a few of the passengers sought me out since I
was the only ‘foreigner’ and an Indian at that! During the course of conversation
that evening one of them referred to the political situation in India, the ‘Quit India’
movement, etc., and wanted to know why we were so angry with the British since
after the termination of war, we were bound to get what we were after. I replied
politely that I would not like to be involved in political discussions. Gen. Hance
heard me and came to me and said “CG, go ahead, say what you like, and answer
whatever questions they ask you.” I took him at his word and ultimately got involved
in very animated discussion on the political situation in India! The conversation
lasted over an hour. We were agitating then, as I remember, for a dominion status
for the Country. “That is very simple. There should be no difficulty in granting
India that status” said one of the members of the audience. I told them that many
promises were made in the past and that dominion status was in fact promised
as far back as in 1928 or 1929. Nothing had come out of it since and we were afraid
that ultimately some kind of reforms would be the only thing that we would get.
“We are very sincere” said my friend, “but what do you think we should do now to
demonstrate our sincerity?” I said “If you really mean business, the remedy, in my
opinion, would be very simple. Let His Majesty in his address to the Parliament
announce categorically that His Majesty’s Government was committed to grant
dominion status to India on the cessation of hostilities. Knowing you British, any
pronouncement by His Majesty in the Houses of Parliament would be regarded
as indicating the real bonafides of the Government.” I also pointed out that if
this was done, not only the Indian people but also the Princes of several States in
India would know what was going to happen after the termination of the war. We
talked a great deal. In due course, we came back to our rooms late in the night. I
did not know how Gen. Hance, who was listening to the conversation, would react
to what I had said. I was therefore surprised when he said, “CG, I have been in India
for 30 years but I did not have an opportunity to hear the views of Indians on such
matters. This evening has been very educative to me indeed!”
We resumed our journey to the States two days later, and after a brief halt
at Gander we reached Baltimore. The journey across the Atlantic was most
comfortable, for though the weather was rough, we had a sleeping berth on the
flying boat, a luxury indeed, especially during war time.
It was just as well that our first halt in the USA was in Baltimore, for it gave
us the opportunity of discussing with the Faculty of the Johns Hopkins Medical
School, after which we were going to fashion our-Institute in India, all that we had
learnt on the newer concepts in medical education in UK. From Baltimore we
visited a number of institutes in Washington, in New York, in Florence, Alabama, in
Nashville, Tennessy, in Memphis, in San Francisco, and finally the Harvard Medical
School in Boston.
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On the last day we were in Hotel Statler in Boston when we took the
opportunity of reviewing the whole situation and discussing in general terms all
that we had learnt and the opinions expressed. It was our practice during our tours
to discuss such matters with each other, almost on most evenings. One of the
assignments we had was to ascertain from teachers, particularly in UK, names
of scientists and medical men who, in their opinion, were well qualified to hold
the teaching positions in the new institute when established. Till then very few
Indian students used to visit the USA. As we were discussing this question Gen.
Hance said, “Well CG, I am glad we have at least four names to consider.” “Four,
Sir? My records show only two: Dr Dikshit for Pharmacology and Dr Khanolkar
for Pathology”, I replied. “No, we have four”, he said and further elucidated by
saying that there was one Prof. Siddiqui of Lahore who, in his opinion, was suitable
for a post in anatomy and there was another called “CG” who can easily chair
Microbiology. I was surprised at his statement and said, “I do not know Dr Siddiqui
but so far as I am concerned, I do not think that I fulfil all the qualifications that
we had laid down in our discussion within ourselves and also with the authorities
we had consulted”. I reminded him of what Sir Francis Frazer had said that we
should have men not only academically well qualified but men, as he put it, with
‘fire in their bellies” and I ended by saying that if I was the only person from India
considered suitable to hold the chair of microbiology, then I would suggest that
we import someone from abroad for that post. Gen. Hance knew that this was not
mere humility on my part, and so he replied “Well CG, I do not care a damn, if you
three Marathas run that Institute! You write the report and I will sign it!”
(d) The return journey
After Boston we went to Ottawa and Gen. Hance left directly for UK before
proceeding to India. I was asked to return to India by whatever arrangements
that were going to be made for me. Accordingly, the next afternoon I was asked
to board a Canberra bomber which was to take me as far as Cairo. Couple of hours
later we landed at Halifax in Now Foundland. A blizzard was on at the time we
landed. It was indeed difficult to keep warm at the airport. We left on our onward
journey by the Canberra late in the evening. The plane was not heated and I could
hardly keep warm in spite of blankets wrapped round each of my legs and another
one to cover me over my heavy overcoat. After a while I expressed surprise to the
steward that when we were travelling south, it was that cold. To that, he replied
“Sorry, Sir, we are not going south but we have received a message to go back to
Halifax”! He did not know the reason. We landed at Halifax again in the blizzard.
We had to wait there a whole day because apparently we could not take off earlier
for reasons I did not know. There was some delay before the plane could take off
on scheduled time in the evening as the wireless operator was on a visit to town,
perhaps to see his girlfriend and could not be located.
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We left Halifax in due course and landed at Azores. Why they took that route
they did not tell me. I was taken to the Army Camp where I had my lunch and
from there, we reached Cairo. We landed in Cairo at the Military Airport where my
papers were checked and my passport was examined, I had no visa for entry into
Egypt for the Indian High Commission had assured me that there was no need for
it. Apparently, it was needed and so my passport was impounded. I was asked to
collect it the next day.
I had to make my own arrangements for the stay in Cairo. I visited the office of
the BOAC to request them whether they could make the necessary arrangement.
They were very polite. They telephoned to all the hotels in the city and ultimately
told me that there was absolutely no chance of securing any accommodation in
any of the hotels that day. However, I was advised to go to the ‘Indian Officers Club’
in Cairo and see whether I would be lucky to have some kind of shelter there.
“The Club” was for the British officers of the Indian army! I met the lady in
charge of the Club. She was the wife of an army officer. She received me very
cordially, no doubt, but told me that there was absolutely no place for me in the
Club. I told her that the BOAC people had assured me that you had gone to their
rescue many times in providing accommodation for stranded passengers and that
you would do something. “Indeed” she replied “they are being very naughty. I did
oblige them once or twice but Doctor, today I am really helpless”
I decided to play my usual strategy. Since she was the wife of an officer of the
Indian Army, I just enquired of her whether she was ever in Madras. ‘’Of course”, she
said, “My husband was in Madras a few years ago “ I told her that I also came from
Madras and that I was the Director of King Institute, Guindy. She replied that she
knew about the Institute as they were staying at that time in St. Thomas Mount.
This conversation served to establish a kind of comradaire and ultimately the lady
agreed to do something for me. She provided me with a bed in the verandah and
requested another officer to allow me to use his bathroom and other facilities!
I made many friends among the officers staying in the Club. There was, of
course, no Indian officer staying at the Club. I had to stay for one week in Cairo as I
could not get any accommodation in planes going to India. Life was of course dull.
I visited the military hospital and met Col. Kocher, the Commandant of the Hospital
who invited me to dinner. Maj. Govindarajan who was the Pathologist working at
that hospital took me out on several occasions when he was free. When I used to
depart each morning to ascertain, if there was a seat in the plane, my friends at the
Club would greet me with saying “Doc, we hope you do not succeed, we want you
to stay with us.” I had not realised that I was that popular! I then decided to make
another approach to get a seat allotted to me on the plane. One morning I went to
the British Embassy and explained to them my position and asked them whether
they would be kind enough to send an urgent message to Delhi informing them
that because of my inability to secure a passage, I would not be able to attend
the meeting called by them two days later! This ruse apparently worked and they
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agreed to put me on the plane leaving the next day.
I arrived in Delhi couple of days later and reported to Gen. Hance explaining to
him what had happened since we had departed from Ottawa. Obviously, he was
very happy to see me and told me that I was being placed on temporary duty in
his office to write the report.
Thus ended the journey primarily undertaken to prepare some sort of a
blueprint for the establishment of an institute in India.
II
Salient features of our recommendations
It is necessary, at the outset, to refer to our terms of reference; they were as
follows.
“To obtain information regarding the latest developments in the
organisation of medical teaching and research in the United Kingdom, Canada
and United States of America. Enquiries should be directed primarily towards
securing information which would be of value in the preparations of plans for the
organisation of a medical training and research centre, the purpose of which will
be to train men, who will eventually be leaders of the medical profession, especially
teachers and research workers. It should be borne in mind that the primary object
of such an institution will not be advancement of scientific knowledge, but the
training of students”.
As it turned out our visit was most opportune. There had been already
considerable discussion on the need for reorientation of medical education both
in UK and USA. In UK the report of the Goodenough Committee was already out
which had embodied the recommendation for the reorganisation of medical
education and research. We had stated in our report:
“Throughout the English speaking world a great renaissance in health
provision and education is in formulation and the end of hostilities will see a burst
of progress in matter of health unprecedented in history”.
Because of the participation of the medical faculties of various universities in
UK in the formulation of the report of the Goodenough Committee, our task was
made easy in discussing the relevance of the newer approaches in the concepts
of medical education vis-a-vis India. In the course of our tour, we had interviews
with individuals, authorities and corporate bodies such as the medical faculties
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of the various universities. In the latter case the procedure adopted was in the
first instance to meet the faculties in a Body, and thereafter to supplement the
information so gained by individual discussion with the various professors. In that
way we were enabled to gain an impression of the approach to the problem by
the faculty as a whole and at the same time to have the benefit of the experience
and opinion of individual members who were distinguished figures in medical
education and research. Indeed, both in UK and USA many faculties and individual
members had submitted to us detailed memoranda on the subject discussed.
The broad aspects of what we had in mind were presented to them and there
was always a reference in our presentation to the Johns Hopkins Medical School
for- reasons already stated. Discussion, therefore, almost always revolved on the
following topics:
• Should such an institute be established in India?
• Should undergraduate teaching be undertaken in the Institute?
• Composition of the different departments in the Institute;
• Methods regarding the selection of students and the staffing pattern of
the Institute;
• Academic qualification to be given by the Institute; and
• Relevant administrative matters.
It might be worthwhile to mention briefly the views expressed on these
matters. We stated in our report;
“On the necessity for such an institution there was unanimous agreement on
the part of all authorities consulted.
Several of them went further and expressed the opinion that such an Institute,
in addition to making the most effective possible contribution to India’s needs,
would be the most complete and effective yet achieved, and, if the experiment
proved successful, would eventually attract students and research, workers from
all over the world”.
“......In order to achieve rapid results no single measure could approach in
effectiveness the provision of a single central institution embodying the practice
of new concepts and at the same time training and turning out highly selected
and efficient disciples and practitioners of them. Such an institution could serve as
an ocular demonstration of principles, which if they had to be absorbed from the
printed pages or the spoken word could hardly achieve general appreciation under
a generation. Such was in fact the effect of the establishment of the Johns Hopkins
School of Medicine, which in a period of fifteen years, achieved a revolution in the
North American Continent”.
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The whole concept was discussed in great detail by the medical faculty of
the Liverpool University. Apart from the memorandum submitted to us after
discussing the whole question within the faculty itself, Prof. R. A. Morlan sent us
a letter giving his own views on the concept of the proposed institute. He stated:
“In both teaching and research, it could be held that relevance to India should
decide priorities. I do not mean simple utility but relevance in wider sense. The
whole problem of geography in relation to disease affords an instance of a long-
term programme of research to which individuals could contribute and the
institute could act as the unifying agency and building up its own peculiar prestige,
team spirit and continuity. ... One would think that medical anthropology could
be cultivated in India as nowhere else. Similarly the problem of “putting over”
preventive medicine affects all the world but India affords a unique laboratory for
research in the borderland between education and medicine. I hope this makes
clear what I mean by relevance as a strategic aim. The Institute should be itself, an
Indian, not a transplanted Johns Hopkins or Mount Vernon”.
It was but inevitable that during our discussion reference should be made to
the newer concepts of medical education and research, and we were frequently
referring to the views expressed in the reports of the Royal Colleges and of the
Goodenough Committee in UK. These views were considered important enough
in the organisation of the departments in the proposed institute in India. A few
examples may be cited in this connection, since they could reflect the then current
thinking in such respects.
Regarding the teaching of anatomy, the Royal College had stated:
“The study of the general principles of structural organization and of structural
details in terms of living processes, such as growth, repair, and adaptation to
functional demands with frequent resort to the experimental method, is coming
more and more to occupy a dominant position in the anatomy curriculum. In
contrast to pure memorisation of topographical details, this may be termed-the
new anatomy”. Both Oxford and Cambridge Schools were unanimous in their
opinion that for this newer teaching, new textbooks would be required”.
Indeed Prof. Bancroft humorously remarked —”the present anatomy books
were written to facilitate the setting of examination papers and examination
papers were designed to produce what was in the textbooks”!
In organising the Department of Physiology some special suggestions were
given for the teaching of this subject in the proposed Institute in Delhi. Prof. Wills
of Oxford laid special emphasis on the provision of an honours course in physiology
which the student should take after the completion of the normal pre-clinical
course, and before taking up clinical instruction in the wards. This honours course
was described as “learning the grammar of medical science” for it inculcated the
method of scientific approach and gave a grading in the science of medicine. Prof.
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Wills also expressed the view that since the object of the proposed Institute was to
produce teachers and leaders of medicine, it was essential that such a course be
instituted and training in the Institute thus differentiated from similar instruction
given at other universities. It might be of interest to note that the Oxford University
had proposed to develop at Oxford an undergraduate medical school the aim of
which was to produce teachers, and where the institution of an honours course, as
stated above, was also contemplated.
Again newer trends were visible in the teaching of biochemistry. It was considered
desirable to integrate that subject with the teaching of clinical subjects. This is promoted
by the cooperative efforts of the Departments of Medicine and Biochemistry.
I feel it is not necessary to review all the views expressed and suggestions made
in respect of all the departments essential for the teaching of the medical students.
Indeed, similar suggestions were also made in respect of the organisation of the
clinical departments. However, in respect of the clinical departments, emphasis
was on the need for the institution of ‘clinical research units’ in them, with their own
properly trained staff employed on a permanent basis, along with the complement
of essential technical personnel. These units were both for research and teaching
purposes. Nevertheless, mention must be made of the two departments we had in
mind in the proposed Institute in India, e.g., Department of Prophylactic Medicine
and the Department of Social Medicine. The first one was supposed to deal with
subjects such as epidemiology and vital statistics, hygiene with health education
and control of communicable diseases, public health administration, maternity
and child welfare, school health, occupational health, etc. The Department of
Social Medicine was expected to deal with applied epidemiology, social pathology,
social surveys and the like.
We discussed this question in some detail both in UK and USA. It was obvious
that the experts were more interested in the latter aspect of the question. An
outstanding example of this was in the Department of Preventive and Social
Medicine at Oxford under Prof. J.A. Ryle, a pioneer in this field in England. Apart
from lectures, there were frequent conferences, attended by social workers along
with the students. The procedure at the Conference was described to us as follows.
“The professor first interviews the patient to explain to him the nature and
purpose of the Conference. His case is then presented to the Conference by the
house physician in charge and explained to the ‘Diagnostic stage’. The house
physician is followed by the almoner who deals with the general environment of
the patient, e.g., type of house, place of employment, etc. and such other economic
factors as have a bearing on the case. If a case of peptic ulcer is being discussed,
such factors as drop in weight, loss of working hours, necessity to support income
by other means, the diet, etc. are all discussed. The idea that the disease is a social
and economic problem is inculcated. The professor then takes the thread and
discusses such factors as are important in the rehabilitation of the patient. This is
social medicine as applied to an individual”.
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We saw an interesting set up in Rochester, USA, which was unique in some
ways. There was no special Department of Preventive Medicine, but the teaching
was done through the faculty of medicine as a whole. The Strong Memorial
Hospital was the teaching hospital of the University. However, the facilities of the
Municipal Hospital were also utilized for teaching. This hospital was a part of the
University and was administered as such, though for its maintenance the city
contributed a certain sum to the budget of the Medical School on a pro-rata basis
of the total hospital expenditure. The city had no control whatsoever over the staff
of the hospital. The health bureau laboratories were housed in the main building
of the school and they were regarded as part of the Department of Bacteriology.
The combination of the health laboratories with the University Department of
Bacteriology provided a scientific basis to the general health programme in the
city and the State. This arrangement, it was stated, greatly, facilitated the teaching
of preventive medicine. Of course, a summary course was also given along with
lectures and demonstration in the fourth year of the medical curriculum. In the
opinion of the Professor of Bacteriology such a system of instruction inculcated
in the minds of the students the conception that preventive medicine was not a
separate subject by itself, something superimposed on the medical curriculum,
but that it was an integral part of medicine as a whole!
What has been stated so far will serve to indicate the interest taken in our
mission by the medical faculties of the Universities. I will not refer here to other
organizational matters dealing with the proposed institute in India. The subject
which evoked considerable interest and discussion was on our concept to have
both the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in the institute. There was
no unanimity of opinion on this question. Prof. Chesney, the Dean of the Johns
Hopkins Medical School was of the opinion that the only way to foster postgraduate
teaching was to create a separate school for the purpose. The Dean of the
Birmingham Medical School expressed doubts on the possibility of combining
instruction for both the postgraduate and undergraduate students in the same
school, since different standards were required for the teaching of the two groups,
especially when there could not be separate staff for the purpose. The Liverpool
medical faculty, on the other hand, discussed this question amongst themselves
and gave us a memorandum in which they supported idea to have both the
types of teaching since the aim of the institute was to train medical teachers and
research workers. The Goodenough Committee also supported this view when
they recommended the establishment of a Medical School in Oxford.
I will now refer to another important question: viz., the qualification to be
awarded to the undergraduate and postgraduate students admitted to the institute.
The consensus of opinion was as follows:
• For the purpose of obtaining registration and qualifications the proposed
Institute must, as regards its undergraduate instruction, be affiliated to
some degree conferring body.
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• It has been urged with emphasis that in postgraduate institute any bias which
might lead to inter-provincial jealousies should be most carefully excluded.
• It is recognized as desirable that Indian Teaching Schools should develop
postgraduate qualifications with their own high standards and thereby
counteract the present tendency of ambitious young doctors to proceed
to UK, America and other countries in search of foreign qualifications,
which cannot, in the nature of things, give the same guarantee of local
proficiency that Indian postgraduate qualifications of a recognised
standard could afford.
• The All India Institute should be recognised by other teaching schools in
the Country, study at which will qualify for the examinations of their own
higher degrees and diplomas.
• In order, however, to give a special cachet to the postgraduate students
who have satisfactorily completed a course of study at the Institute, it is
recommended that successful completion of approved postgraduate
study for a definite period, say 4 years, should qualify a student with
or without an additional test of an examination, for the diploma of
“Membership” of the All India Institute of Medicine.
• The fellowship of the Institute should be reserved for award by election
in recognition of continued meritorious work in the field chosen by the
candidate.
• In order to achieve those objectives a charter be obtained for the Institute
analogous to that held by the Royal Colleges in Great Britain.
There were many suggestions made about the selection of students,
recruitment of staff and other relevant matters. I will not refer to them now since
they have no specific relevance today.
It will be apparent from what has been stated in this brief summary of the
views and ideas expressed that the concept of the Institute as an Indian Johns
Hopkins Medical School dominated our thinking and the views expressed by those
whom we consulted were primarily to ensure the successful implementation of
that idea.
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III
I must now relate an interesting episode. As stated earlier I was placed on
duty in Delhi to write the report. The arrangement was that I would work during
the day and discuss the draft with Gen. Hance each evening between 6 and 8 PM.
My draft used to be generally approved with minor corrections. Finally, I ended
the report with the following.
“Another essential feature of the proposed Institute is that it should eventually
become an Indian institute established in India, for the training of Indian workers
by Indians. A corollary is that, subject always to the overriding proviso of adequate
calibre, the staff from the beginning should be composed, as much as possible,
of Indians A condition to which we attach great importance is the prior selection
of the Indian members of the staff and their inclusion in any selection committee
which may be set up for the recruitment of the remainder. Teamwork is an essential
requisite for the successful working of the Institute, and it is of great importance that
men primarily selected should be able to ensure the recruitment of colleagues with
whom, irrespective of the professional quality, they feel confident of being able to
work in harmony. This procedure was adopted by the President of the Johns Hopkins
University when that Medical School was established. The President selected Prof.
Welch. The President and Welch together selected Osler; Welch and Osler selected
Kelly and the three selected Halstead. It was round the work of these outstanding
young men that the whole edifice of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, with all
its revolutionary effect upon medical teaching in America, was built. To achieve the
same effect in India, the following of the same principles is, in our view, essential.”
When Gen. Hance read this, he looked at me and said: “C. G., do you want me
to sign this?” Before I could reply, he said, ‘Well, it is not a bad suggestion, and
damn it, I had promised you that I would sign the report when you write it.” With
this remark, he initialled the report.
Surprisingly enough, the Bhore Committee accepted this procedure, but not
unanimously. Dr P.N. Sapru, a member of the Committee submitted a dissenting
minute in which he made the following remarks:
“In our opinion the constitution provided for the Governing Body is reasonably
good. But we cannot agree to the further suggestion that the shaping of the
Institute in its technical aspect should be entrusted solely to the Director and
Professors of the Institute acting as a medical faculty.. No adequate reason has,
in our opinion, been given as to why on the medical faculty an external element
should not be provided for. In our opinion, there is a danger, under a constitution
of this character, of the academic faculty of the Institute developing into a close
corporation of mutual admiration”.
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IV
Implementation of the concept
The Bhore Committee’s report was published in 1946. This was the period,
as we all know, of intense political activity, ultimately resulting in the attainment
of Independence by the Country. In due course the Government appointed a
Committee to make suggestions for the implementation of the project. I was not a
member of that Committee. I understood then that because of financial stringency
the project was shelved and as an interim measure a decision was taken to upgrade
certain departments in medical colleges, where suitable leadership was available.
I remember the rivalry amongst some who wanted their own departments so
upgraded! This scheme functioned for some time and I am inclined to think that it
died a natural death when as I believe, no suitable successors were found to head
the upgraded department after the retirement of original incumbent.
Interest in the ‘All India Institute’ revived, when New Zealand approved of
the ‘blue print prepared in the office of the Director-General of Health Services’ in
New Delhi, and made a generous allocation of funds necessary to start the project.
After this, of course, there was feverish activity. Dr K.C.K.E. Raja chose the site. A
Committee was appointed to work out the details of equipment necessary and
such other matters. I was the Chairman of that Committee. In the meanwhile, Dr
Raja retired as DGHS and became the Secretary of the Committee. He took over
completely from that date. While the architects were chosen by international
competition for the construction of the main building of the Institute, construction
of residential quarters was entrusted to the P. W.D.
The question of the appointment of the Director was hanging for sometime.
Various names were being considered. Finally, I suggested to Rajkumari Amrit
Kaur who was the then Minister of Health, to consider the name of Dr B. B. Dikshit
who was then the Surgeon-General in Bombay. He was an efficient and popular
Professor of Physiology in the B. J. Medical College in Poona and was primarily
responsible for the consolidation and development of that College. As Surgeon-
General he was intimately associated with the construction and development of the
medical colleges in Ahmedabad and Jamnagar. He was an efficient administrator
and above all he was intensely popular with students who regarded him with
respect and admiration. Rajkumariji accepted my suggestion. In my opinion, Dr
Dikshit did a marvelous job as its first Director in putting the Institute on its feet
and with Dr Dikshit’s appointment my association with that institute ceased.
I should like to refer here to another interesting development.
On the other side of the main road, opposite the site of the Institute was a
small hospital in about 20 acres plot, run during the war by the Americans. It was
suggested that this hospital should form a part of the Institute and be utilized
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for housing chronically ill patients and by those who would not be needed for
teaching purposes. Indeed, it was suggested that an underground passage
be provided to facilitate the movement of the staff between the two wings. Dr
Sushila Nayyar, who was the Minister of Health of the Delhi State, readily agreed
to the proposal. The Central Ministry of Health changed the plan. Today we see
two hospitals with thousand beds in each, on either side of the road while the
sprawling city of Delhi is suffering for want of such facilities to its inhabitants! On
the other hand, the Patel Chest Institute, which could have played its role in the
teaching of both undergraduates and postgraduates is located ten miles away, in
the University of Delhi campus probably working in isolation from other medical
teaching institutions!
I have often wondered whether in the changed circumstances after
independence, it would have been possible to implement the basic concept of
the Institute as a teacher training institute for the country as a whole. Prior to
independence the health policies of the centre were implemented through the
office of the Director-General of the Indian Medical Service. Indeed, the IMS was
supreme in many ways. The posts of the Surgeon- Generals and the Directors of
Public Health were held by IMS officers, of course, with few exceptions. Many of
the teaching posts were also held by them. The service had, naturally, loyalty to the
centre, and any scheme conceived or envisaged by it, could readily be implemented
by the service officers in the Provinces. It must be noted that only those officers
with sufficient seniority and with experience of service in the Provinces could be
taken to Delhi. Such officers had the necessary prestige and backing of experience
when dealing with the problems of the Provinces in medical education and public
health fields.
After Independence the situation changed completely. For some reason, the
Indian Medical Service was abolished. Obviously noted “medical politicians” were
against it. The all pervading influence of a central service was no longer there.
Indeed the Mudaliar Committee in their report stated as follows:
“Most of the highest administrative and specialised posts in the States were
manned by the officers of the Indian Medical Service and the Medical Research
Department, who were officers of an All India cadre thus providing a certain
measure of coordination between the Centre and the States, in spite of the fact
that “health” was a transferred subject under the Government of India Act, 1935.
The change had a certain centrifugal tendency in the sphere of health
administration.”
In these circumstances what chances were there of the scheme like the one
proposed being accepted by the States, which would have to surrender their
powers in some respects in order to achieve the desired objectives? Apparently
that it was a mistake to abolish the All India Medical Service was realised by the
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Centre, for it did make attempts to revive it as a central health service but so far,
without success.
In view of these developments, the original concept of the Institute of it being
a teacher training centre for medical colleges in India was not discussed so far as I
know, at any time since its inception. I had the feeling that with some modification
in the staffing pattern, the objectives for which the Institute was conceived would
have been achieved. The reviewing body set up after its few years of working did
not refer to this aspect in their report. We see the same spectacle as is evident
elsewhere, viz., the undergraduates after completion of their studies migrate to
USA and UK. Of the postgraduates, I am told, some are serving as teachers in
medical colleges in the States. This is, however, not a planned development. In
spite of this, one must admit the Institute has many scientific achievements to its
credit. It has functioned as an efficient research institute in that respect.
In 1970, I was invited to be the Chief Guest on the Institute’s Annual Day.
Annual Day, to my mind, is a day of stock taking. I ended my talk thus:
“When I look at this campus, with its beautiful and impressive lawns, note
the sharing of the campus by the staff and students, admire the highly developed
laboratories, and clinical departments, and inevitably reflect on all that you have
done and achieved, I feel that you have created here an “island of excellence”. But
will it always remain a lonely island, or as some others would put it, an ivory tower?
Or, on the other hand, will you be helping in making this country an archipelago
with many islands of excellence in it? Excellence must not be isolated in islands
but must flow into the mainstream of national life. Was that not the dream of the
original planners of the Institute?”
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CHAPTER XVI
WAR YEARS AND AFTER
(1938-1948)
Early in September 1939, Col. Shortt went on leave preparatory to retirement
and I was appointed permanent Director of the Institute. With the outbreak
of the Second World War, whole tenor of work in the Institute changed.
Research activities receded and priority had to be given to the manufacture of
biologicals and new sections had to be created to circumvent the conditions of
obtaining supplies from abroad.
In the first place we were asked to take anti-air raid precautions, since
danger of attack from the Japanese was always there. We were asked to remove
glass panes from the windows in the laboratories. I thought this was really not
necessary since the Institute was situated away from the city. Besides removal of
glass from the windows and covering them with wooden planks would increase
the danger of contamination in the manufacture of the biological products.
However, because of our proximity to St. Thomas Mount (the Military Cantonment)
Government insisted on our doing it. A contractor was entrusted with the task,
and I had told him that only about 5 per cent breakage would be permitted in
removing and packing glass for storage. Necessary instructions were also issued
to one of the Assistant Surgeons who was placed in charge of the operation. Three
crates of glass were stored in the mechanic’s storeroom and I used to inspect
them periodically during my weekly rounds of the Institute. I might as well relate
here what happened subsequently.
At the termination of the hostilities the glass panes had to be put back. When
we opened the crates, hardly any glass panes were there. They were stolen. The
price of glass had gone up during the war and that was the temptation. The theft
was cleverly done and there were no signs of tampering.
I held an enquiry. The officer who had been put incharge had died in the
meanwhile. To my surprise the file in which I had given instructions was also
missing from the office! Obviously, someone from the Institute had conspired
to do this but I could not fix the responsibility on anyone and reported to the
Government accordingly.
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A few days later, I received a letter from the Surgeon-General asking me why
the cost of glass, about seven or eight thousand rupees, should not be recovered
from me! This was an open letter, not a confidential one. The whole Institute came
to know about it. After giving some thought to this communication, I wrote to the
Surgeon-General somewhat on the following lines.
I pointed out that the work of removal and storage of glass was done at a
time when the Institute was very busy manufacturing cholera vaccine to meet
the extraordinary demands for the control of one of the most serious epidemics
of cholera in the Province; I and the staff were fully occupied with that effort. The
Government then were pleased to compliment the Director on the fine work done
by the Institute. I took the credit then, on behalf of the staff and now I am equally
willing to take the blame, though I know that some member of the staff was
responsible for the theft!
The reply was not sent confidentially and the staff came to know about it.
A few days later, I received a communication from the Surgeon General: “The
Director is asked to be more careful in future”.
I was happy and that was that.
Because of the difficulties in getting therapeutic sera from abroad I was
advised to start, if possible, making of anti-tetanic and anti-gangrene sera.
Fortunately, Assistant Surgeon Dr M.K.K. Menon who had been sent to the USA
on a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship to study the techniques, had just returned.
Some expertise was thus available. The difficulties, initially, were many. While the
necessary equipment was available at the Institute, we had to find accommodation
for horses. This was secured with the help of the veterinary authorities in their
premises in the city. A few horses were obtained with the help of the racecourse
authorities. Surgeon-General Sprason, who had been the Professor of Pathology
at the Lucknow Medical College, obliged us by selling his own horse for Rs. 500/-.
He was going away on retirement to England. A small, isolated building in the
Institute grounds was converted into the “anaerobic” block, and for processing the
sera one small room in the main building of the Institute was airconditioned and
fitted into a laboratory. When all arrangements were complete, the immunisation
of horses began with the techniques then known. Everything went on smoothly.
Then happened an incident which disturbed me greatly.
I had just returned from one of my trips to the USA and was about to proceed
to Calcutta to attend a meeting. I found that morning a”memo” on my table from
Dr Menon:
“The first batch of anti-tetanic serum, with a unitage of 20,000 units per cc.
is ready. Request permission to issue”. Since I was busy, I sent the memo back
with the endorsement: “Congratulations! Please do not release till my return from
Calcutta”.
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On return from Calcutta, I called Dr Menon to my office with all the protocols. I
did not find anything wrong. However, to be on the safe side, I asked him to repeat
the tests, which he did with the same results. I do not know why but I asked him
to do all the tests himself. The results were still the same. I knew, from literature,
that occasionally a horse would react that way and produce antitoxin with high
unitage. All horses would not react the same way. The serum normally issued had
only 5,000 units per cc. That meant that if we were to issue our first batch of serum,
it would have to be diluted four times to comply with the usual practice, since
it was not desirable to issue sera from the Institute on different occasions with
different unitage. To err on the safe side, however, I got two samples of the batch,
sent one to the Haffkine institute and the other to the Central Institute, Kasauli,
for further tests. The results were astonishing. Both the Institutes reported the
unitage of 5,000 units per cc. and not 20,000 units as determined by the Institute.
Obviously, there was something wrong with the way we did the tests. I asked
Dr Menon to do the tests again and this time I looked into all the details. I made
sure that cages were securely locked and no test animal escaped which could be
replaced by a careless attendant. Again the results were the same as before.
I came to the conclusion that there was something wrong with our reagents.
So, I called Dr Menon to pack up everything and proceed to Bombay to do the tests
at the Haffkine Institute and do parallel tests with our and the Haffkine Institute’s
reagents. Gen. Sokhey, the Director of the Haffkine Institute to whom I had written
previously had agreed to cooperate. This happened on a Saturday. That very day I
received a request from my friend Dr Kini, Professor of Orthopaedics in the Stanley
Medical College for a supply of antitetanic serum for the treatment of his son. I was
tempted to issue the Institute serum because of its high strength. However, I did
not and sent him the serum from the imported stock.
The next morning, Sunday, while I was reading in the verandah of my house,
the technician, who was involved in the tests, came to see me. He informed me
that the results of the tests were all manipulated and faked!
To say the least I was astounded! I just could not believe it.
“Did you do it?” I asked.
“Yes”
“Why?”
There was no answer. I lost my temper and sent him away asking him to see
me on Monday! I sent word to Dr Menon that he was not to proceed to Bombay
the next day as was planned.
I held a preliminary inquiry the next day in my office. Ultimately it turned
out that first tests were done in guineapigs. The result was 5,000 units per cc.
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Guineapigs of course were not the animals of choice for the tests. He manipulated
the results by not injecting the toxin in the animals he ‘wanted to survive’! He did
this, he admitted, for the officer wanted “better results”. I questioned Dr Menon
and the technician again and briefly recorded their statements. Dr Menon was not
aware, he said, of what had happened.
I then saw the Surgeon-General and gave him full report on what had
happened and requested him to send an officer from his department to hold an
inquiry, since it would be necessary to take action against those found guilty. I
suggested, however, that the inquiry should be confidential, lest the reputation of
the Institute might suffer. He said he would think it over and do the needful.
Soon after Mr Patro, the Police Commissioner, met me one evening in the
Presidency Club. We were friends. He asked me about the incident. I was surprised
to find that he knew about it. “It does not matter how I came to know about it,
but please be careful. You might also be a suspect”. “Suspect of what?” I asked. “I
myself found out what had happened and I made the report”. “May be” he said,
“but be careful”. I could not make anything of this at all, and soon forgot about it.
A few days later a middle aged gentleman came to see me in my office and
introduced himself as one sent by the High Court to make some inquiries about
the incident and make a report. Again I was surprised. How was the High Court
involved? Any way I received him cordially and promised to give him whatever
information he wanted.
He visited the Institute for over 10 days everyday. He said that since he was a
lay person, he wanted to be “educated” on all aspects of serum production. I took
him to the stables and showed him how the horses were looked after. I gave him
full schedule of immunisation, how the horses were bled and blood processed.
Finally I gave him full details about the tests. He took profuse notes. Finally he
asked me to show the tests.
“Do them yourself. I do not want anybody to know what I am doing” he said.
I got the reagents, animals in their cages and everything. Having done the tests,
I explained how the unitage was calculated, noting which animals had died and
which had survived. I think he was fully satisfied.
Then he sprang a surprise. He was the Judge and I was asked to be the
prosecutor. The trial was of Dr Menon and his assistant. They were asked if they
wanted a lawyer. They did not. I was asked to take the usual oath on the Gita “to
tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. No witnesses were called.
The “defendants” did not want any. I cross-examined Dr Menon and his assistant
on all relevant details. It is hardly necessary to give the details.
When the so-called “trial” was over he said he would make his report to the
Government The ‘inquiry’ thus terminated!
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In his judgment, he found the assistant “guilty”. He was to be dismissed. He
recommended that Dr Menon’s increments should be withheld and finally he
gave me, what the Surgeon-General called a ‘handsome tribute’. He wrote in his
report: “Scientist as he is, he refused to accept any result of the tests which, in his
opinion, were not in conformity with what was to be expected. But for the extreme
vigilance he exercised, there would have been a tragedy and many lives would
have been lost”.
I do not think any Director of an Institute had to go through this kind of an
ordeal of prosecuting a member of his own staff. Why did he do it? I could not find
an answer. However, I was happy that after all I was not a suspect!
Blood bank organisation
As I have said, we had to establish new sections in the Institute to meet the
situation created by the war. In April 1941, the Surgeon-General requested me to
take steps to establish a blood bank in the Institute, primarily as an A.R.P. measure,
and to build a reserve of plasma for use in emergencies. With such equipment
as was available, a start was made. Fortunately, we had Dr S. Ranganathan,
an Assistant Surgeon, on the staff who had some previous experience in the
processing of plasma while he was on study leave in England.
Donors were secured with the help of Mr. Buck, Principal of the YMCA College
of Physical Education and the Indian Red Cross Society, Madras branch. The
Inspector-General of Prisons obtained permission of the Government of Madras to
call for volunteers from prisoners in jails. They were given some concessions and a
small monetary reward.
In the processing of plasma the alkali CO2 method of Bashly and Whitly was
adopted. Blood grouping sera were also prepared and issued for use in hospitals.
This new activity of the Institute became very popular and it became soon
evident that the Institute was not able to meet the demands of the hospitals
in the City. A more concerted effort was, therefore, necessary to secure donors.
Accordingly the Surgeon-General appointed a Committee representative of
various interests. Articles appeared in the press and talks were given on the radio.
The Institute team augmented their Visits to hospitals and colleges in the City
and to institutions in the Chingleput district. Thus during the war years, 1942-1944,
seventeen hundred persons had volunteered as blood donors. Blood banks were
also established in hospitals in Madras and Visakapatnam.
Problems of algal control
Problem of algae in water supplies, particularly in tanks associated with
temples in south India had posed many problems in the past. Since a trained
scientist in this field was available, it was decided to create a separate section,
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in the Department of Water Analysis, to develop methods for control of algae.
Researches on the seasonal variations and preponderance of algae in stored
water have shown that they exhibit a marked correlation with the malariological
conditions, the acidity of water and its organic matter, silicon and iron content.
Methods were developed to deal with water in tanks and to make them suitable
for bathing purposes for pilgrims.
Manufacture of BCG vaccine
The last assignment given to me by the Government of India was in respect
of manufacture of BCG vaccine in the Institute. When Dr Jivraj Mehta talked to me
on the telephone about it, I readily agreed, provided an officer of the Institute was
trained in the techniques of manufacture. This was readily agreed to. I chose Dr
S. Ranganathan for this assignment. He had already made a success of the blood
bank activity in the Institute. When he was deputed on a WHO Fellowship for the
purpose, the WHO assigned a Consultant to work in the Institute. The building,
originally intended for the manufacture of yellow fever vaccine, was allotted for
the manufacture of BCG. We worked together for a few months and succeeded in
making the first batch of the BCG vaccine in India. This batch was not issued for
use, since it had to be tested for its suitability for its general use. This was in 1948.
Soon after, I was to leave the King Institute for an assignment in New Delhi.
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CHAPTER XVII
GANDHIJI VISITS MADRAS
The Hindi Prachar Sabha which had done commendable work in popularising
‘Hindi’ in the south was going to celebrate its Silver Jubilee and Gandhiji was
invited to be the Chief Guest on the occasion. Shri Satyanarayanji, the Chief
Executive Officer of the Sabha contacted me to ascertain if I would help him to
make the necessary arrangements to ensure the potability of the water of the well
situated near his place since, as he naturally expected, Gandhiji would be staying
in his house on the campus of the Sabha during the celebrations. I readily agreed
to do so. All that I had to do, I thought, was to examine the water of the well and
decide on the need or otherwise for chlorination as and when necessary.
It was always a matter of regret to me that I did not have the opportunity
of seeing Gandhiji at close quarters, let alone the opportunity of meeting him.
Once when I was travelling from Madras to Calcutta, Gandhiji boarded the train
at some station in Andhra Pradesh. The platform at every station was so crowded
with people that it was impossible to get out and have, at least, a glimpse of the
Mahatma. Throughout the day I was confined to my compartment. Even the
restaurant service was equally ineffective and we had to go without lunch or tea
till the evening. However, what a joy it was to see the admiration and enthusiasm
of the people! Any way the assignment which Shri Satyanarayanji gave me would
provide me, I thought, with the opportunity of seeing Mahatmaji at close quarters
and even of meeting him! I was excited!!
That was, however, not to be. Apparently where Gandhiji should stay was
the concern of not only Satyanarayanji but others as well, particularly Rajaji.
Satyanarayanji was told that if Gandhiji was to stay with him, he would have to
walk a long distance to reach the conference shamiana! To get over this difficulty
a wall was broken to provide easy access to the Conference—a short cut! I was
rather surprised at this, for everybody should have been aware of Gandhiji’s love
of walking!
Then unfortunately, as luck would have it, Satyanarayanji’s daughter got
measles! How could Gandhiji stay in an infected household! I was again consulted.
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“What were the chances of Gandhiji contacting measles?” “How would I know? For
all that I know Gandhiji might have suffered from measles during his childhood.
Who can tell? And theoretically a second attack cannot be ruled out”, I replied.
At this, Satyanarayanji promptly removed his ailing daughter to his friend’s house,
and asked me to have his house thoroughly disinfected. I did this, and to ensure
that there were no further misgivings or objections in the matter, I got even
the woodwork painted with oil paint! I thought that was the end of the matter.
However, as it ultimately turned out, Gandhiji was whisked away to stay elsewhere,
with Shri Ganesan, I think. Rajaji had his way!
In due course the celebrations began. A large shamiana was put up for
the purpose, with a number of enclosures in it, each being separated from the
other by bamboo railings. There was a wide central passage which according to
the Notice Board the visitors were not to use. It was meant apparently for special
dignitories. I decided to attend the function not only to hear Mahatmaji addressing
the gathering but also to hear my daughters sing the opening song and Tagore’s
‘national anthem’ at the closing as we knew it then. My daughters were included
amongst the girls chosen for the purpose.
When I reached the shamiana, it was getting almost crowded to capacity.
I was shown to one enclosure. The crowd was surging in and it was difficult to
move in any direction. Just then somebody told me that my place was in another
enclosure on the other side of the central passage. Since it was impossible to get
away the way I had come, I decided to jump over the railing and get to the other
side of the central passage. While I was astride the bamboo railing, precariously
perched on it with a leg on either side of it, three lady volunteers came running
to me and admonished me saying that at least an educated man like me, since I
looked like one, should not disregard the notice forbidding the use of the central
passage! “Well, ladies, I am sorry”, I said “could you please tell me what else I could
have done with that crowd behind me?” However, before I could say any more
some friends spotted me, came to my rescue and took me through the forbidden
passage to my allotted enclosure!
It was, of course, no surprising to see that huge crowd. They were there, no
doubt, to pay homage to Mahatmaji, but it was equally true they were there to
honour the function. Hindi was really making rapid strides then in the South and
they would want to talk in Hindi.
They used to admire even my ‘special brand’ of Hindi and compliment me
on my knowledge of it.
In due course Gandhiji entered the shamiana with his entourage. Behind him
was a pretty young lady in a Khadi sari, I was told she was his Secretary. Thus I had
the first glimpse of Dr Sushila Nayyar! But my dream of meeting Gandhiji and of
talking to him did not materialise!
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHALO DELHI
It was early in the morning on 17th March, 1948. Dr Jivraj Mehta rang from
New Delhi. After preliminary greetings were over he said: “Pandit, we want
you in Delhi to take up the appointment of the Secretary, Indian Research
Fund Association. Would you be willing?” I was rather surprised at this for I knew
that Dr K.V. Krishnan had been appointed to that post and had indeed assumed
charge of the office in Delhi. When I enquired about this, Dr Jivraj answered “Yes,
but he has decided to go back to Calcutta to the School of Hygiene and Public
Health. Hence, we would like you to take up the post”. When I replied that I would
be willing to take up the post, he again enquired: “Do you think the Madras
Government would agree to relieve you?” “I do not think they will like the idea.
However, I think, it is a matter between the Centre and the State Government”. Dr
Jivraj also asked me if I would like to make any conditions or request, then I replied
that I had none. He asked me to write to him accordingly. At this time I was to
go to Washington to attend the meeting of the Far Eastern Congress of Tropical
Medicine and Malariology where I was to read a paper on poliomyelitis describing
the isolation of the virus from the epidemic of poliomyelitis in the Car Nicobar
Islands. I, therefore, sent the following reply:
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The King Institute
Guindy, Madras-15
18th March 1948
Dear Sir,
I am most grateful to you for your telephonic message this
morning. In the circumstances stated I consider it is my duty to
take up the appointment and to serve wherever my services are
required. In view of this I leave it to you to decide regarding pay
and emoluments as you consider fit. I hope I will be permitted
to keep my lien in the Medical Research Department. If I am
allowed to join on the 1st of July 1948, it would give me one
month after my return from America to settle my affairs here
and write one or two papers which have been pending for
sometime.
I regret I have to leave for Vellore immediately to attend
the meeting of the Medical College Council and incidentally to
see my daughter before I leave for abroad. I will phone to you
on Saturday (20th) morning but this is just in case telephone
contact is not possible.
With regards,
Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(C.G. Pandit )
That the IRFA should have a full time Secretary was being considered
previously and a decision to that effect was taken sometime in 1946. Indeed when
I had visited Delhi then, Col. Cotter invited me to lunch one day and asked me if I
was thinking of applying for that post when it was advertised. I said that I would
not apply for any post. I would consider only if I was offered the post. Col. Mulligan,
the Director of the Central Research Institute at Kasauli, who was also present at
lunch agreed with my views. On hearing my views, Col. Cotter heaved a sigh of
relief and said -
“Well, it is good to hear this for when I asked Dr K.C.K.E. Raja to apply for the
post, he said that he would not do so, if Dr Pandit was going to apply for it. We are
thinking of asking Dr Raja to take up the post!”
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After lunch I met Dr Raja and acquainted him with my views and
suggested that he should apply for the post.
After independence, however, Dr Raja was appointed as the Director-General
of Health Services. The post of the Secretary, IRFA, was advertised and Dr K.V.
Krishnan was selected. The Rockefeller Foundation offered him a fellowship to
visit the USA and study recent trends in medical research. On return Dr Krishnan
joined his appointment. Why Dr Krishnan wanted to leave, I could never really find
out. There was apparently some difference of opinion on certain matters, especially
relating to administration between him and Dr Mehta. Perhaps Dr (Mrs.) Krishnan
was not too keen to stay in Delhi, as she had a good gynaecological practice in
Calcutta. Perhaps both the reasons were in their own way valid.
When Mr. A.B. Shetty, the then Minister of Health in Madras, came to know
about these developments he sent for me and asked me why I was keen to go to
Delhi. I acquainted him with the developments and stated that even previously
I had not applied for the post, but since I was in Government of India service I
would have to abide by their orders. I also added that within two or three years
I would have to retire on attaining the age of fifty-five years. Under the IRFA, I
would perhaps continue in service a little longer. “But we could give you a five-year
contract after you retire at 55”, he suggested. I had, however, to point out that he
could not take any such decision at this stage.
During the course of this narrative I had occasion to refer, in passing, to the
astrological forecasts regarding my career, particularly those of my friend Bapu
Joshi. I must refer to one such now.
Once in 1947, a friend of mine brought one Shri Pakala to my house in Madras.
He was reputed to be, according to my friend, a good astrologer and palmist. He
used to run an astrological magazine. He happened to look at my palm. He got
interested, took reprints of my both palms, and also my birth date. He cast my
horoscope and spent a week studying it in the Theosophical Society in Adyar. A
week later he saw me again and gave his forecast. “Well, Sir,” he said, “you will
be transferred to Delhi next year to take up new duties”. I told him there was
no prospect at all of that happening, and I knew of no post to which I could be
appointed. “In that case” he said, “a post would fall vacant, because the incumbent
would either leave or asked to go, and that post would be offered to you”. When
his prediction came true, I met him again in 1948 and told him so. Immediately
he replied that I should join the new appointment on the afternoon of 29th July. I
was surprised at his reply. I have stated previously that I had not based any of my
actions on astrological predictions. This time, I must confess, I could not resist
agreeing to do so, since joining that day or any other would not have made any
difference. I was human!
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However, when the time came near for the departure, I must confess, I felt
rather uneasy. Was my decision correct? What would I be doing in New Delhi as
Secretary of the IRFA, once the available funds were distributed as grants-in-aid
for research between the few existing research institutes? In the King Institute
I was always busy. There was no dearth of the problems to investigate and the
administrative work was not in any way taxing. The Institute enjoyed the respect
and confidence of both the administrators and the general public. Indeed, our
association with the latter, I should say, was almost intimate. We came into
contact with them all the time through our vaccination programmes against
smallpox, through our investigation units which had to work particularly in rural
areas, through actions at fairs and festivals, through epidemic control involving
preventive vaccinations, through our blood bank organisation, and above all,
through action under the food adulteration act, for the department of the Public
Analyst was located in the Institute. Our Water Analyst Department was equally
active. By periodic and systematic sampling of water supplies we ensured proper
functioning of these establishments. Even ensuring the safety and potability of
water supplies at important railway stations and junctions was our responsibility.
Our sphere of activities was throughout the composite State of the then Madras
Province, from Mangalore on the west coast to Berhampur on the east, with the
exception of the Mysore and Travancore States! We could not have achieved these
objectives unless there was complete harmony and understanding between the
Institute and the Public Health Department at all levels.
Again I am happy to state that I enjoyed the full confidence and regard of my
staff. Indeed they were as concerned as the Director in maintaining the good name
of the Institute. They were allowed to publish the results of their research under
their own names, without the Director necessarily being one of the authors! We
were fairly active in research. Indeed the Surgeon-General in reviewing the annual
report of the Institute had stated on one occasion that research work ranked
equally with the routine work carried out in the Institute. We really functioned as
an Institute of Preventive Medicine.
Big developments were envisaged for the Institute. In 1943, I was a member
of the Research Committee of the Health Survey and Development Committee,
otherwise known as the Bhore Committee. I had submitted to that Committee a
memorandum suggesting the reorganization of the Institute and establishment
of regional laboratories in different parts of then Madras Province to function under
the aegis of the King Institute. The staff of these regional laboratories were to be
borne on the cadre of the King Institute. The idea was that after a sojourn in them,
they would come back to the Institute for a spell of duty to refresh themselves with
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the developments that might have taken place in scientific techniques in their
respective disciplines. The Bhore Committee accepted these recommendations
almost in toto I quote from their report:
(Ref. Report of the Health Survey and Development Committee, pp 420-421)
30. The proposals for the development of an improved laboratory service
for Madras Presidency, which will be described in some detail below,
set a standard which other Provinces would do well to follow both as
regards the functions of the regional laboratories and as regards the
organization of the Central Provincial Institutes. Similar proposals
have been made for the Bombay Presidency. We would suggest that
for reasons already stated, this scheme of regional laboratories should
be linked with other developments in connection with our health
programme.
31. The Madras scheme—we recommend the continuance, on an
extended scale, of the functions hitherto carried out by the King
Institute, and endorse the proposals outlined by the Director of the
Institute for the reorganization of the Institute itself and for the
development of daughter regional laboratories to be established
throughout the Presidency. These proposals are briefly summarized
below:
32. The creation of regional laboratories — There is an urgent need
to decentralize some of the functions of the King Institute so that
laboratory service may be more readily and more widely available in
the districts than is the case at present. Hitherto, the King Institute has
served as the laboratory for most of the district headquarter hospitals
but, owing to the limited amount of clinical material which it has been
possible to send to the Institute for examination, the hospitals have
not had as complete a laboratory service as they require. In addition,
health workers in the field, especially during epidemics, cannot at
present obtain adequate laboratory service near at hand. For these
reasons the creation of regional laboratories at the following centres
is necessary:
Bellary — to serve the needs of the Ceded districts,
Madura — to serve the southern districts,
Coimbatore — to serve Salem and the West Coast districts,
Visakhapatnam — to serve the Northern Circars.
The last named could conveniently be established in connection with the
Medical College at Visakhapatnam and, if medical colleges are established in the
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other places also, the regional laboratories should be associated with them. Other
districts such as Nellore, North Arcot, South Arcot, Chingleput and Madras City
would continue to be served by the present Institute at Guindy, while the Pasteur
Institute, Conoor, would continue to serve the Nilgiris and surrounding areas.
33. The functions proposed for these regional laboratories include the
conduct, for their respective areas, of the following:
• Bacteriological and serological examinations of all clinical material
received from hospitals and dispensaries and from the Public
Health authorities.
• Examination of samples of food submitted in connection with the
Prevention of Adulteration Act.
• Examination of water from protected supplies in the area.
Regional laboratories would also serve as subsidiary centres for the distribution
of biological products, such as therapeutic sera and prophylactic vaccines. In
addition, the regional laboratories would be well placed for development as centres
of research, particularly clinical research for which a wealth of material would be
available from the well-equipped district hospitals. Decentralization on the lines
recommended would ensure more efficient and more widespread diagnosis of
disease and better investigation and control of communicable diseases. There
would also be provision for the extension of the important functions of food
and water analyses, thus providing for an extension of food and water control to
the remotest areas. Regional and district laboratories, when formed, should be
placed under the administrative control of the Director of the parent Institute at
Guindy. A cadre of especially selected and trained officers and assistants should be
maintained to serve the King Institute as well as the regional and other laboratories
in the Presidency. Similarly, common provision should be made for the supply of all
laboratory materials, stores and equipment.
I was naturally elated when I had read these recommendations! Such were my
thoughts during those days prior to my departure to New Delhi. However, the dye
was cast and an irrevocable decision had been made. I left Madras on July the 28th
by the newly inaugurated air service by Shri Aalagappa Chettiar, travelling by DC
3 aircraft via Visakhapatnam, Nagpur, Gwalior and Delhi. How different were my
thoughts on July 14th 1924 when I had alighted for the first time on the platform in
the central station in Madras!
I reported for duty in New Delhi on the afternoon of 29th July 1948! I left the
laboratory bench to become an administrator!!
Within a week of my arrival in New Delhi I received the following letter from
Shri A.B. Shetty, the Health Minister of Madras Province.
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GOVERNMENT OF MADRAS
A.B. Shetty, M.L.A.
Minister for Public Fort St George
Health & Medicine 2nd August 1948
Dear Dr Pandit,
I am writing this letter to acknowledge the great service
rendered by you as Director of the King Institute. The high
reputation which this Institute enjoys today all over the country
is in a great measure due to your devoted work and your great
aptitude and zest for research. You know this Government were
very unwilling to send you away, but we could not say ‘No’ to the
demand that came from the Centre. We did not also want to
stand in the way of the larger opportunities you will have for
work at the Centre and the better prospects you will have there.
Yours sincerely,
Sd/- A.B. Shetty.
Dr C. G. Pandit
Secretary, Governing Body &
Scientific Advisory Board
Indian Research Fund Association
Hutments Block, 36 Civil Block
General Secretariat
New Delhi
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176 My World of Preventive Medicine
PART III
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
(1948-1965)
Planning for the Future (1948-1965)
CHAPTER I
THE BACKGROUND*
I
It may not be out of place, here to record briefly the circumstances that led
to the formation of the Indian Research Fund Association (IRFA) in 1911 and
subsequent developments in medical research in India till the attainment of
Independence by the Country in 1947. It is of interest to note that even prior to 1911,
the British officers of the Indian Medical Service, working on their own initiative
and with limited laboratory facilities, had made important contributions to the
knowledge of some of the tropical diseases, e.g., studies of Lewis on trypanosomes,
of Vandyke Carter on leprosy, and of Macnamara on cholera. Further impetus
to medical research was given by the occurrence of epidemics, particularly the
plague epidemics which necessitated to create laboratory facilities for their
investigation. Indeed, as stated by Sir Pardy Lukis, the Director-General of the
Indian Medical Service, “plague did for medical research in India what some sixty
years earlier cholera did for sanitation in England!” Thus came to be established a
few institutions, e.g., the Bacteriology Laboratory in Agra, the laboratory at Parel in
Bombay which later became the Haffkine Institute, the King Institute of Preventive
Medicine in Madras and the Pasteur Institutes in Kasauli, Conoor and Shillong. The
Pasteur Institutes were established, by the way, “by a desire to escape the great
expense of sending British soldiers bitten by rabid dogs to Paris”!
To staff these institutes, the Government of India had created in 1905, a cadre
of scientific workers, known as the Bacteriological Department of the Government
of India, and the officers selected were from the Indian Medical Service. It was soon
evident that these officers were being increasingly charged with administrative
duties connected with the routine manufacture of biological products. It was also
soon noted that the recruitment of scientific personnel was often delayed owing
to the cumbersome procedures laid down by the Government, which, amongst
other things, necessitated the prior approval of the Secretary of State for India
in London. To get over such difficulties, and to create an appropriate climate for
developing medical research, it was decided to establish the Indian Research Fund
Association in 1911. Thus the Fund was ‘Local Fund’, constituted entirely by the
*For a detailed account of the growth and development of the IRFA, reference is invited to the Golden Jubilee Document
prepared by me in 1961 entitled “Fifty Years of Progress” and to an article in the Indian Journal of Medical Education
178 My World of Preventive Medicine
Planning for the Future (1948-1965)
Government of India! As stated in its Memorandum the primary objects for which
the Association was established, were the prosecution and assistance of research,
propagation of knowledge and experimental measures generally in connection
with the causation, mode of spread and prevention of communicable diseases.
It is of interest to note that the first meeting of the Association was held at the
Plague Laboratory in Bombay on the 15th November, 1911. Apart from appointing
the Scientific Advisory Board and its committees on such subjects as plague,
cholera and malaria, the main item on the agenda was “causes for the decrease in
the population in India!” Today, i.e., over fifty years after, we are equally concerned
with research on family planning!
However, much progress was not possible in earlier years because of the
advent of the First World War. Most of the workers being members of the Indian
Medical Service were drafted for war duty. Funds allotted to the Association each
year, about Rs. Five lakhs, went on accumulating. It was then decided to credit Rs.
2.5 lakhs each year to a fund specially earmarked to establish a Research Institute,
a project which never materialised! The controversy was about its location. The
Government wanted it in Kasauli, the hilltop resort in today’s Himachal Pradesh.
The resolution condemning the site was moved in the Legislative Assembly by
Shri M.R. Jayakar. He stated categorically that public opinion was not in favour of
establishing any research institute at any hilltop station. I recollect, the resolution
was ably supported by Dr Jivraj Mehta. The Government temporarily dropped the
proposal.
The Association then decided to extend financial support to the School of
Tropical Medicine in Calcutta which was just then brought into existence. It was
also contemplating to extend the scope of research to many other fields. As the
activities of the Association were then getting revitalized, there came the ‘axe’
of the ‘Inchacape Committee’ which was appointed to advise the Government
of India on the scope for economy because of financial stringency imposed by
conditions in the post-war period. As a result, the Government of India’s grant
to the Association was completely suspended for a few years and such research
activities as were considered essential were financed from the accumulated funds
of the Association. As a result, the capital fund of the Association which stood at a
face value of approximately Rs. 52.31 lakhs in 1931, dwindled down to Rs.11.57 lakhs
by 1943-44.
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Planning for the Future (1948-1965)
II
This was the state of affairs when I assumed charge as the Secretary of the
Indian Research Fund Association on June, the 29th 1948, as previously decided.
I called on the Health Minister, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, the Health Secretary, Shri
Madhav Menon, Dr K.C.K.E. Raja, the Deputy Director-General, who was then in
charge of the Indian Research Fund Association. They all received me well and
after exchanging a few pleasantries with them I went to my own office which was
then located in Block E, quite close to the South Block of the Central Secretariat.
It consisted of three rooms only. My staff was meagre. It was composed of an
Assistant Secretary, Shri Gonsalves, an Assistant, Shri T.D. Joshi, a Steno-grapher,
Shri Himmat Singh, a typist and a peon! Within a month of my taking charge,
Sir Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar who was then the Director-General of the CSIR
telephoned me and suggested to release Shri Gonsalves since he wanted him to
work in his office. I, of course, agreed to let him go. The brunt of office work
thus fell on Shri T.D. Joshi. During a casual conversation with him one day, he told
me that when my appointment as Secretary of the IRFA was being considered by
the Governing Body, Rajkumariji was rather hesitant to move me from Madras to
Delhi to an administrative post since I was doing very useful scientific work at the
Institute in Guindy. It was, however, at the insistence of Dr Jivraj that she agreed
to his proposal.
Those early days, I must confess, I was rather ill at ease. The budgetary
allotment was small and the Scientific Advisory Board had already met and allotted
the available funds to research projects submitted by the research institutes. It
was against this financial and administrative set up that I was entrusted with the
task of building up medical research in the country.
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Planning for the Future (1948-1965)
CHAPTER II
FORMATION OF THE INDIAN COUNCIL OF
MEDICAL RESEARCH
My immediate task was to see in what manner the recommendations of
the Health Survey and Development Committee, popularly known as the
Bhore Committee, could be implemented. The Committee had made two
important recommendations.
The first recommendation related to the organisation of medical research in
India. After noting the organisation and functions of the Indian Research Fund
Association, the Committee had recommended the constitution of a central
organisation for medical research in India to work on the same lines as by the similar
organisations in UK, USA and Canada with complete latitude in the formulation
of research policies and disposal of funds allotted to them. It was recommended
that the proposed organisation should consist of a Scientific Advisory Board and
an administrative body. Details regarding the membership of these bodies were
given. It was also suggested that if a National Research Council of India is formed
at some future date, the proposed central organisation for medical research should
become a Division or Board of that Council.
It is, however, interesting to note that two members of the Bhore Committee,
Drs Viswanath and Butt, had submitted a dissenting note. They had stated that:
“One important channel of financing medical research in India has been
a quasi-government organisation—the Indian Research Fund Association. In
our opinion the financing of medical research could be aided effectively and
expeditiously by a progressive government. The argument of less red-tape in
the working of a quasi-government organisation is offset by greater scope for
nepotism under such an organisation”.
I was rather intrigued when I read this. I had been a member of the Scientific
Advisory Board of the IRFA for a number of years, and I did not remember of any
occasion when I had reason to believe that there were instances of nepotism in
sanctioning a research grant to any individual. The fact of the matter was that
while a major portion of the funds was being allotted year after year to projects
submitted by government research institutes, I do not remember any occasion
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Planning for the Future (1948-1965)
182 My World of Preventive Medicine
Planning for the Future (1948-1965)
Indian Council of Medical Research, Headquarters, 183
New Delhi (Old Building)
My World of Preventive Medicine
Planning for the Future (1948-1965)
when a worthwhile project submitted by others, and such instances were
uncommon, were not accepted by the Scientific Advisory Board of the Association.
However, I decided to keep this criticism in mind in evolving techniques for
sanctioning grants for research projects.
It was not difficult to implement the above recommendation of the Bhore
Committee. After a close scrutiny of the constitution of the IRFA and of the
proposed body, it became apparent that only a few changes were necessary in the
original constitution of the IRFA. These were affected, necessary legal formalities
were gone through and the Indian Council of Medical Research came into being
in 1950, and I became the first Secretary of the Council.
The first two or three meetings of the Governing Body set the pattern of the
working of the Council. It was not always necessary to put forward any proposal
to the Executive Committee first before putting it before the Governing Body. I
was indeed fortunate in enjoying the full confidence not only of the President of
the Council but also of the Health Secretary and the Director-General of Health
Services and his officers but also of other members of the Governing Body. I may
mention that Acharya Kripalani and Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya were members of the
Governing Body nominated by Parliament. Again, after the annual budget, based
on the recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Board, was sanctioned the only
problem the Governing Body had to deal with, in those initial years, referred mainly
to the Nutrition Research Laboratories at Conoor, -the only research laboratory
maintained by the Council. I will refer here to the few problems we had to deal
with.
After the meetings of the expert committee of the IRFA in Madras were over
I had to call a meeting of the Governing Body to finalise the budget proposals.
One of the items on the agenda was the appointment of an Assistant Director
at the Nutrition Research Laboratories in Conoor. Amongst the candidates most
suitable for the post were Dr C. Gopalan and Dr K. L. Shourie. Both had served in
the IRFA and both had done excellent work abroad. I had known Dr Gopalan for
many years, when he was working as a Research Fellow in Madras. Indeed Col.
Cotter, the then Secretary of the IRFA and Public Health Commissioner with the
Government of India had spoken to me about him and had asked me to keep a
watch on ‘that promising young scientist’. Because of his longer association with
the IRFA, I was keen to offer the post to Dr Gopalan.
However, Dr Shourie had also qualified in Dentistry and had led an American
team to Puerto Rico to investigate, I believe, nutritional and dental problems of the
Puerto Ricans. I was, therefore, equally anxious to provide him a suitable opening
in the organization.
The problem, however, solved itself for when I discussed the matter with Dr
Jivraj Mehta, he suggested that Dr Shourie would be suitable for the post of the
184 My World of Preventive Medicine
Planning for the Future (1948-1965)
Nutrition Class Coonoor, 1953
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Planning for the Future (1948-1965)
Director of the newly established Dental College in Bombay. He, however, pointed
out that it would be essential for him to appear before the Bombay Public Service
Commission. “Can you arrange that?” he asked. I pointed out to him the difficulties.
Dr Shourie was returning to India by a Cargo boat. He had given the particulars. I
found that, at the time, his boat would be at Basra. I sent him a cable C/O the Ship
and asked him to reach Bombay in time for the interview travelling by air from
Basra if that could be arranged. Fortunately, he could make it. He was selected
by the Public Service Commission for the post and joined the appointment in due
course. We have been very good friends since then. The Dental College in Bombay
owes a great deal to him.
In due course, Dr Gopalan was selected for the post of the Assistant Director
and later I converted it into that of a Deputy Director paving the way for him, in later
years, to assume the charge of the Director of the Laboratories on the retirement
of Dr Patwardhan, the then Director of the Institution.
In due course, I attained the age of 55 years, and a proposal to extend my
services under the Council was put up to the Governing Body by the Health
Secretary. When the item came up for consideration I, naturally, left the meeting. I
had just gone out of the room when Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya came out too. “What
have you finished discussing the item?” I asked. He said, “I told the members that
if Dr Pandit goes out, I will go out too”!
My term was extended by three or five years — I do not remember which I
became then a contract officer of the Council!
Again, the staff working in the laboratories (I do not know why we used
the plural in those days) was engaged on a contract basis. Their work was to be
reviewed every five years, and their continuance in the institution depended on
a satisfactory record of their scientific work during the period. These conditions
were equally applicable to the officers of the Medical Research Department of the
Government of India, of which as I had stated earlier, I was also a member. We
were, however, allowed the benefit of contributing to the provident fund. I found
that the officers working in Conoor were not allowed that privilege as, according to
rules, “Contract Officers’ were not.
Most of the officers working in the laboratories were young scientists. I put up
a note to the Governing Body that this ‘injustice’, as I called it, should be remedied
forthwith. However, I added, at the end of my note that ‘this concession will not
be applicable to the post of “the Secretary to the Council”, though it was also a
‘contract’ post. I purposely put this in the note, since I did not want to give the
impression that I did this to benefit myself as I was also a ‘contract’ officer. Acharya
Kripalani, when he read this immediately exclaimed “Madam, this is what I like to
see. Dr Pandit has made it clear that he will not be the beneficiary. We shall accept
his proposal.” It was accepted without any discussion.
186 My World of Preventive Medicine
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