Dear Editor,

Dr Bhawani Prasad Bhattacharya was born in the village of Bagnan, Howrah District, West Bengal near Calcutta (Kolkata) on November 6, 1911. Born into a family of modest means, he, his five sisters and parents shared a small, single-roomed house. A diligent student, he worked hard at school and passed the matriculation examinations for the University of Calcutta at the age of 15 and went on to study Medicine at the Carmichael Medical College, University of Calcutta. Fully qualifying as a doctor in1937, his chosen specialty was gynaecology and obstetrics, and he spent the next four years working his way up the professional ladder to Senior Resident House Surgeon at the Chittaranjan Seva Sadan Hospital in Calcutta. By 1942, India was fully embroiled in the Second World War and Dr Bhattacharya was employed as a Medical Officer in the Surgical Division of the Indian Military Hospital, Alipore between January 1942 and November 1945. Towards the end of this period, he fulfilled the role of Surgical Specialist and was “Mentioned in Dispatches”.

Returning to gynaecology and obstetrics after the war, he moved to the UK to further his specialist training. Taking the initiative to broaden his experience, in 1949 he secured a temporary placement to study cancers of the reproductive system at the Memorial Hospital for the Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases in New York. Returning to the UK later that year, he worked as Senior Resident in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Bolton Group of Hospitals and, latterly, the Darlington and Northallerton Hospitals in Yorkshire, England between 1950 and 1957. During this period, he met and married “Minu” who was a nurse at the same hospitals.

Seeking new challenges, Dr Bhattacharya decided to look at overseas opportunities and was attracted to a posting in British Guiana. Unfortunately, the post did not commence until 1958 so he took up a post in Mizapore, East Pakistan. His daughter was born during this period but conditions in Pakistan deteriorated during 1958 following a coup d’état and the establishment of martial law. Fortunately, the opportunity in British Guiana was still open and the young family travelled via London and Trinidad to Georgetown.

Posted to the Georgetown Public Hospital as the Gynaecology and Obstetrics specialist in Jul 1958, Dr Bhattacharya spent the next four years updating and modernising the maternity ward. Particularly concerned with the high rate of infant mortality, he conducted studies into the welfare of both mother and baby, and into the incidence and management of cervical cancers. On-call every hour of every day for these four years, he took no leave and thoroughly enjoyed his work and the environment in the public hospital. His contract was fulfilled by the end of 1962 and he planned to resume working in England. However, his thoughts always returned to British Guiana and by February 1964, the Bhattacharya family, now with the addition of his son Debdash, returned to make the country their home.

Establishing a private practice from the family home at High Street, Werk-en-Rust, Dr Bhattacharya attended patients in the many smaller hospitals such as the Davis Memorial Hospital, Medical Arts Centre, Prasad’s Hospital, Seventh Day Adventists and Woodlands Hospital as well as the Georgetown Public Hospital. Additionally, he attended free clinics in the interior for Amerindian communities and clinics outside Georgetown; for example in Linden. His commitment to his work was absolute. He remained on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week and his clinics at home frequently extended into the evenings. That is not to say that he did not enjoy leisure time when work permitted. His daily schedule ran with almost military precision and he tried to incorporate games of tennis three times a week. His first tennis partner and life-long friend was veteran broadcaster, Ayube Hamid Khan. Later he formed a formidable tennis partnership with BK “Boney” Persaud. The pair would take on, barrack and frustrate far younger opponents into losing with alarming regularity.

By the late 1970s Dr Bhattacharya and his family were fully integrated into the Georgetown society. Professionally, he attended to patients across the full spectrum of Guyanese life, from ministers to the average man or woman in the street. Always mindful of his humble beginnings he frequently forewent his fees when tending to those families who were struggling financially and he also funded an additional place at the schools his children attended. Socially, he maintained connections and had friends across a wide range of local and expatriate groups. An active member of the Lions Club of Georgetown, he was immensely proud of Guyana and he felt that it was his responsibility to ease the transition of all newly-arrived Indian nationals into the Guyanese way of life. He would facilitate introductions with key local contacts and providers of goods and services and furnish each family with a copy of “Guyana: A Nation on the Move” booklets published by the Guyana Information Services. As a result, he would frequently be the first point of contact when minor domestic emergencies arose.

Having established his credentials at the public hospital in the late 1950s, he witnessed the struggle for independence and the transition to the Co-operative Republic. Having witnessed independence and partition in India in his youth, this was nothing new. In the mid-1980s, amidst the exodus of professionals to the UK, USA and West Indies, Dr Bhattacharya demonstrated his commitment to the country that was his chosen home by securing a Guyanese Passport. Still working at the age of 85, Dr Bhattacharya’s love of his vocation and the Guyanese people was clear to see. He always marvelled at the wonder of bringing new life into the world and, during his working life in Guyana, infant mortality fell by a third from 67 per 1000 births to 42 per thousand births (source UN). The country also received two Commonwealth awards for outstanding progress in maternity and child health: the Astor Shield and the Dennis Geffen Rose Bowl.

Dr Bhattacharya once said to his son “What would I do if I retired? I would be dead in two weeks.” Struck by cancer, Dr Bhattacharya left Guyana for medical treatment in the UK on March 21, 1996. He passed away in hospital on the April 1, 1996, just under two weeks later. It was always my regret that the family were so consumed by his loss that we did not think to recognise his passing in the country that was his home. This year marks the 25th anniversary of that event and I feel that it is fitting to remember his life in service of the people of Guyana. I would hope that there are a few sons and daughters whose mothers will tell them to raise a glass to Dr Bhattacharya. In my heart he is not gone but still resides at 45 High Street.

Yours sincerely,

Captain Debdash Bhattacharya