Eminent paediatrician Dr Dilip Mahalanabis, who pioneered the use of Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) during the outbreak of cholera among refugees of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, died on October 15. He was 88.
Key points
- He was born at Kishoreganj in undivided Bengal in 1934.
- His Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) saved numerous lives during the 1971 Liberation war of Bangladesh.
- He used ORS for the first time while treating millions of Bangladeshi refugees in camps near Bangaon in West Bengal in the 1970s.
- Mahalanabis cured numerous people suffering from cholera with this ORS and it proved to be a life-giving formula.
- Dilip Mahalanabis has been globally recognized for his extraordinary work. Several international organizations, including the World Health Organization, have also recognized his work which has spanned over the years.
- He never took out a patent for his invention of Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) which saved uncountable lives.
