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OBITUARY |
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| Year : 2014 | Volume
: 59
| Issue : 2 | Page : 208 |
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| Dr. Baidyanath Haldar |
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Sanjay Ghosh
Department of Dermatology, MGM Medical College and LSK Hospital, Kishanganj, India
| Date of Web Publication | 21-Feb-2014 |
Correspondence Address:
Sanjay Ghosh
Department of Dermatology, MGM Medical College and LSK Hospital, Kishanganj
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
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How to cite this article:
Ghosh S. Dr. Baidyanath Haldar. Indian J Dermatol 2014;59:208 |
Thirty years ago, the subject dermatology was neither luminous nor lucrative like today. Still certain fluorescing teachers in this field attracted few medical students toward the subject. Their dynamic personality and charisma mesmerized this newer generation physicians to accept dermatology as the career. Dr. Baidyanath Haldar was one of such rare teachers in dermatology.
Born on 10 th December 1932 in Khulna, presently in Bangladesh, he was brought up there and later in Jamshedpur in Bihar. After completing his ISc from Bankura Christian College he took admission in an engineering college. A mind-boggling lecture by Dr. Pashupati Bose, the legendary anatomy teacher of Calcutta Medical College, heard by chance, changed his path to take admission into NRS Medical College. After obtaining MBBS degree he was compelled to take government service due to financial constraints of the family. He worked in Blood Bank, Chest and Pathology departments and could bag multiple diplomas DTMH, Dip BMS and D Dermat during his struggling period. In between, he developed great urge and inclination toward dermatology while working in the School of Tropical Medicine in its golden era under Prof. A K Banerjee. At that time Calcutta University had no PG Degree course in dermatology. Finally, at the age of forty he was able to grasp MD in his cherished subject through unending endurance among the first few batches in the university. He served in Calcutta National Medical College as HOD in Dermatology Department for long years and a brief period in NRS Medical College from where he took voluntary retirement. He established Calcutta Skin Institute in 1980, a clinic exclusively devoted to dermatology with modern outlook, first of its kind in eastern India.
As astute clinician he became one of the best dermatology practitioners in West Bengal. His sensitive and sympathetic dealing made his patients committed to him. Profound academic grip, influencing vocabulary and touchy wits were the key points for his success as teacher as well as speaker. In his era he was among few academic dermatologists from West Bengal, known all over India.
He was elected as President of IADVL, West Bengal, twice in 1988 and 1989 and became the editor of Indian Journal of Dermatology in 1995. In his tenure he fought hard in reshaping the journal and returning its lost fame with the active support and help from his closest friend Professor Amulya Bhusan Gupta, renowned physicist from Indian Statistical Institute. With Professor Gupta he cultivated a new branch of dermatology first in India on 'Physical properties of Skin' and done voluminous research for which they were known nationally and internationally. He was awarded K C Kandhari award from a National IADVL in 2003.
He wrote books on Dermatology both in English and Bengali and initiated to publish a Bengali monthly magazine, namely "Twak" for common people from his institute. Apart from his profession he had keen interest in many facets of life. He was a passionate photographer, had great interest in literature and music and wrote a Bengali travelogue "Deshe Deshe" on his foreign travel. In his college days while being bullied by co-students he started body-building and awarded "Nil Ratan-shree." As a man, he possessed a very cordial, warm, easy-approachable and helpful personality.
He passed away on the forenoon of 8 th January 2014.
Let us mourn the departure of this colorful dermatologist by uttering his favorite poet Rabindranath Thakur's line "In the front there lies the ocean of peace..."
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