TIlE NATIONALMEDICALJOURNALOF INDIA VOL. 11, NO.4, 1998...

TIlE NATIONAL MEDICAL JOURNAL OF INDIA VOL. 11, NO.4, 1998

Obituaries197

M. M. S. Ahuja, FRCP, FAMS(16 August 1929-12 July 1998)

M. M. S. Ahuja, former Professorof Medicine, founder Professorof Endocrinology and formerDean of the All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS), NewDelhi died on 12 July 1998 after ashort respiratory illness. He was ateacher of teachers, a renownedclinician, dedicated researcher, anadministrator, and the foundingfather and guiding light of theResearch Society for Study ofDiabetes in India (RSSDI). He issurvived by his wife Dr MeeraAhuja and two children.

Professor Ahuja was a towering presence in everything he did.Those of us who were privileged to work with him were aware ofhis tremendous zeal, enthusiasm and drive. He seemed to sayyesterday is history; today and tomorrow is where your focusshould be.

To most of us who knew him it seemed out of place to evenconceive of his personal life such as birth, training, publicationsor awards. He was so full of science , medicine, endocrinology anddiabetes-not just basic science, clinical science, or research, buta synthesis of all these in the care of each individual as a person.The science of medicine and, in particular, endocrinology anddiabetes was very much a part of him, be it in documenting andextending their frontiers, or in training those who did that.

Born on 16August 1929 at Multan, now in Pakistan, ProfessorAhuja began his medical education at Lahore Medical College,Lahore. Due to the Partition of 1947, he was relocated to MadrasMedical College, Madras (presently Chennai), where he graduatedin 1952. He was awarded the Membership of Royal College of"Physicians (MRCP) in 1956. He worked as a resident at therenowned Hammersmith Hospital, London, before joining AIIMS.

He joined the AIIMS as a Registrar in Medicine, and wasquickly promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine. He becameHead of the Department of Medicine in 1969 and continued in thatposition till 1982, when he opted to head the Department ofEndocrinology which was established in the same year. In 1988,he became the Dean of AIIMS.

At AIIMS, Professor Ahuja started the DM course inEndocrinology, and made the Department of Endocrinology apremier training centre. Its alumni continue to extend the frontiersof clinical care and research. As a teacher, Professor Ahujabelieved in showing the path, and allowing his students to travel,with guidance when necessary. The interest of his students wasalways at the core, and it must have been a source of pleasure andpride for him to have his former students at the forefront ofteaching, clinical care and research all over the world.

Professor Ahuja was made a Fellow of the Royal College ofPhysicians (FRCP) in 1974, and Fellow of National Academy ofMedical Sciences ofIndia in 1975. He received the prestigious DrB.C. Roy Award for Medical Research in 1982. In 1988, hereceived the Fellowship of the Indian College of Physicians andin 1989, was honoured with the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship. Hewas awarded the World Health Organization (WHO) Fellowship,AIIMS-New Zealand Exchange Programme, Rockefeller Fellowfor Endocrinology, Wellcome Trust Travelling Fellow and WHOSenior Scientist Fellowship.

Professor Ahuja had more than 150 publications in Indian andinternational journals. He authored or edited seven textbookswhich are recognized as postgraduate reference books, particularlythe Progress in Clinical Medicine in India series. His monographon Epidemiology of Diabetes in India is a source book, widelyquoted in international literature.

Professor Ahuja was expert member in various examinationsand selections of the Union Public Service Commission, NationalBoard of Examinations, Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Departmentof Science and Technology and a number of universities andexamination boards. He was also a member of many expertcommittees and task forces setup by ICMR, WHO and Governmentof India. In recognition of his efforts he was conferred thePadmashri in 1993.

In spite of his busy schedule and dedication to research,professor Ahuja was instrumental in founding two majororganizations, 'Research Society for the Study of Diabetes inIndia' and 'Hormone Foundation, India'. He was the foundingeditor of Diabetes Bulletin which is now published as theInternational Journal of Diabetes in Developing Countries. Hetook extraordinary interest in formulating national meetings,chalking out scientific programmes and in designing theme-related issues of the Diabetes Bulletin. We were struck by histremendous physical energy, and by the combination of breadthof vision and care he displayed.

Even after he joined the Sitaram Bhartia Institute of MedicalEducation and Research in 1991, he continued to pursue research.

His lectures were a culmination of knowledge and wisdom:personal research, thorough literature search and a synthesis in hisinimitable style.

Professor Ahuja was a multidimensional personality. He hada deep and abiding interest in fine arts, travel and cross-culturalaspects of living.

Professor Ahuja was an icon who comes but rarely. We wereall graced by the privilege of being associated with him. Wegrieve his loss.

G. R. SRIDHARIndian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism

Endocrine and Diabetes CentreVisakhapatnam

Andhra Pradesh

198 TIlE NATIONALMEDICAL JOURNAL OF INDIA VOL. 11, NO.4, 1998

Surendra Kumar Manchanda(8 November 1931-21 July 1998)

The cruel hands of death impover-ished the world of basic medicalsciences on 21 July 1998 whenthey claimed one of itsmost lumin-ous stars, Professor SurendraKumar Manchanda. ProfessorManchanda was born on 8November 1931 atLahore. Aftergraduating in medicine fromJaipur, he joined the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) in 1957. At AIIMS, hedid his MD and PhD in Physio-logy. Except for short stintsabroad, he stayed on at AIIMS tillhis superannuation in 1991. Hecontinued to be professionallyactive till the last day.

To his students, he was a teacher with a difference. He flauntedneither his knowledge nor his authority, letting the students learnin an atmosphere of freedom and discovery. He was an eruditefriend always available to lend a helping hand, not an overbearingknow-all demigod out to stifle curiosity and imagination. Highlyknowledgeable, yet deeply conscious of his limitations, he wasalways open to discussion and change. It was this openness,combined with his insatiable curiosity that made him an excellentresearch worker. In his research career spanning nearly fourdecades, he concentrated on neural control of cardiovascular andseveral other autonomic functions and on the neural basis ofbehaviour. But his interests were wide-ranging, and it was onlylack of time which prevented him from addressing severalinteresting questions such as the physiology of consciousnessadequately. He was extremely thorough andmeticulous in whateverhe did, and that naturally made him slow. He was a stickler fortechnical perfection, and never accepted an observation till he wassure of its reproducibility and validity. Because of this cautiousattitude, he was never in a hurry to publish, and some of his workis still unpublished. He was slow but steady, and hence always awinner. He became a Professor at AIIMS at the age of 40 years,and 2 years later became the Head of the Department. Thisbrought his administrative skills to the forefront. He went aboutthe task with his characteristic seriousness of purpose. He studiedseveral books on management, and applied the latest techniquesto achieve harmony and efficiency in the department. Seeing himconduct ameeting was a pleasure as well as a learning experience,one of the latest in the line being the General Body Meeting of theAssociation of Physiologists and Pharmacologists ofIndia (APPI)at Lucknow in December 1997, which he was invited to chair.Generous with appreciation, lavish with a pat on the back (bothliterally and figuratively), he was equally adept at expressingresentment without raising his voice.

Dr Manchanda was the recipient of some of the most covetedawards available to medical scientists. A few significant onesamong them were the Hari Om Ashram Award (1978), MajorGeneral S.L. Bhatia Oration (1980) and P.K. Anokhin Medal of

the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1981). He was one ofthe very few Indian scientists to be nominated to the ExecutiveCouncil of the International Union of Physiological Sciences.Although he stayed at AIIMS most of the time, he also taughtmedical students in Iraq, Canada, Japan and Malaysia as aVisiting Professor.

Anyone who came in contact with Dr Manchanda for anylength of time could not fail to be impressed by his charmingmanners. Polite to a fault, he had an unbeatable perfection of style.He could exchange pleasantries with impeccable grace in Punjabi,Hindi or Urdu, English or French. He was a graceful host, andalways welcome as a guest, for he could inject life into any party.He had more than his share of the vicissitudes oflife but never losthis balance. It was amazing how he could keep his cool under themost trying circumstances.

He had an intimate relationship with the APPI right since itsinception, and with the Indian Journal of Physiology andPharmacology (UPP) since its first volume. He was the ExecutiveEditor ofIJPP from 1971 to 1982. During this period, he raised thestandard of the journal through his dedicated efforts and also gotit included in the Index Medicus. He was one of the foundermembers of the Federation of Asian and Oceanian PhysiologicalSocieties (FAOPS) and the founder President of the Federation ofIndian Physiological Societies (FIPS).

Dr Manchanda was sometimes disturbed about the future ofphysiology. On the one hand, it is getting overwhelmed bydaughter disciplines such as biochemistry and biotechnology;and on the other, in medical schools physiology is facing amanpower crunch due to the reluctance of medical graduates toadopt it as a career. Nobody who has any acquaintance withmedicine believes that a bleak future is what physiology deserves,or that such a future is inevitable. With his prophetic vision of thefuture, Dr Manchanda believed that physiology not only cansurvive but even thrive if it breaks out of its traditional shell. Hewanted physiology to venture out in two directions. Firstly, hewanted physiology to have what he called 'a public face'. Physi-cians come in contact with the public largely to advise aboutillness. But there is a lot of useful advice which physiologists cangive to the public about good health and prevention of illness. DrManchanda initiated public lectures at AIIMS and was in-chargeof the programme for several years. Many of these extremelypopular lectures were delivered by physiologists and other basicmedical scientists. Secondly, Dr Manchanda wanted physiologydepartments to provide relevant services for investigation ofpatients. On this front, the autonomic functions laboratory in theDepartment of Physiology at AIIMS is a legacy of his vision andindustry. Besides research, this laboratory conducts autonomicfunction tests on patients referred to it. Dr Manchanda' s chequeredcareer came to an end on 21 July 1998 after a briefhospitalization.He had his first heart attack as an MD student. But by providingtender loving care to his heart, he managed to coax it to continuepumping for forty years. Meanwhile, during these forty years, helived a full life, never using a weak heart as an excuse to quit. Hiszest for life and tireless spirit will continue to inspire many foryears to come. May his soul rest in peace.

RAMESH BULANIDepartment of Physiology

A1l1ndia Institute of Medical SciencesNew Delhi