Subhash Mukhopadhyay (physician)

Subhash Mukhopadhyay (physician)

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Subhash Mukhopadhyay (physician) Profile

  • Name:
  • Subhash Mukhopadhyay (physician)
  • Born:
  • January 16, 1931
  • Died:
  • June 19, 1981

Subhash Mukhopadhyay (physician) Biography

Subhash Mukhopadhyay was a physician from Kolkata who created the world's second and India's first child using in-vitro fertilization. The Indian baby Durga was born 67 days after the first IVF baby in United Kingdom. Now the whole world sees it as the biggest gift of medical science and fortune to many unhappy couples. But when he did it for the first time, the conservative Indian society couldn’t accept it and he was harassed by the state government also. He was not even allowed to share his achievements with the international scientific community and with broken heart he committed suicide on 19 June 1981. Critically well acclaimed movie, Ek Doctor Ki Maut directed by Tapan Sinha was based on his life. His life and death has been the subject of countless newspaper reviews.

 

He was born on 16 January 1931 in Hazaribagh, Bihar.  He took MBBS from the Calcutta National Medical College and later earned a doctorate from the University of Calcutta in 1958. Later he earned a second doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in 1967 in reproductive endocrinology. He created history by becoming the first Indian physician to perform the In vitro fertilisation resulting in a test tube baby "Durga".  Durga (Kanupriya Agarwal) was born on 3 October 1978.

 

But later, throughout his life he faced insults, social ostracisation and bureaucratic negligence instead of appreciation and both Indian and Bengali government denied permission to attend international conferences. 18 November 1978. An 'expert committee' was appointed by the Government of West Bengal to decide over the fate of a convict named Dr. Subhas Mukhopahyay. He was questioned with strange questions. Though he tried his best to prove that he has done the experiment and that it was successful, Committee put forward its final verdict that "Everything that Dr. Mukhopadhyay claims is bogus." Subhash committed suicide at a younger age of just 50. Thus India lost a great doctor who could have given significant contributions to medical world.

 

The first test tube baby was born only 67 days before Durga. The credits go to British physicians Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards for which they won Nobel Prize. But it’s to be noted that the procedures done by British doctors and Subhash were entirely different. In 1986 it was officially announced as the first doctor to perform in-vitro fertilisation in India. His recognition is attributable to TC Anand Kumar and now he is busy to set up a research institute in reproductive biology in memory of Subhash.

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Updated: February 18, 2014

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