Dr Thambaiah, loved by students and patients alike, passes away
TNN | May 12, 2011, 03.35am IST
CHENNAI: Dr AS Thambaiah, guru for many leading dermatologists in the country, a demi-god for thousands of patients and a campaigner against non-medical use of nuclear energy, died here on Wednesday. He was 87.
Dr Thambaiah was undergoing treatment for urinary tract infection and fever at KJ Hospital, Chennai for a week. He did not respond to medicines and died at 7.18am, doctors who treated him said.
Hundreds paid their last respects to Dr Thambaiah at his house on Poonamallee High Road. The body was taken to the Egmore Wesley Church in the evening for prayers and later buried at the Kilpauk cemetery.
Born to a doctor couple, Dr Thambaiah remained a bachelor. "He loved dermatology and was wedded to it," said K Thiyagarajan, who practiced under the veteran for 18 years. Almost every day, Dr Thambaiah saw at least 100 patients. On weekends, the numbers almost doubled. Most patients waited in queue from 7am to see him. The consultation fee at his clinic never exceeded Rs 30 and for some, who could not afford even that, treatment was free. Several film stars, politicians, sportsmen, bureaucrats and doctors were his patients.
Hailed as the father of dermatology practice in the country, Thambaiah has trained many leading dermatologists in the country. Elevator Dress Shoes He passed out of the Madras Medical College in 1948 and pursued his post graduation in dermatology. He was the first Indian to receive an MRCP ( Edinburgh) in 1950. He then joined the skin department of the Madras Medical College, which was initially looked after by Lt Col JM Skinner of the Indian Medical Service. In 1961, Dr Thambaiah became the first professor for the department of dermatology of the Madras Medical College. He modelled the department after the Institute of Dermatology at St John's Hospital, London. At least 500 students including leading dermatologists like Dr Patrick Yesudian, Dr SM Augustine and Dr A Kamalam passed out of the college under his guidance. A winner of the BC Roy award, Dr Thambaiah had published more than 250 scientific papers and was an active campaigner for a nuclear free India. As a teacher, he was a task master. "The classes for postgraduates began at 6 am," recalls Dr A Kamalam, who worked as a mycologist at the Madras Medical College. "If we came late by a few minutes, he would tell us we were too early for the next day's class." The students will then troop down with him to the out-patient ward where Dr Thambaiah would insist on seeing all the patients. The students would take turns to write down the diagnosis on the notice board for each patient. "He knew how to get the best out of every student. He respected everyone including his students. He never took attendance in class and always gave out marks in sealed envelopes to maintain confidentiality," said Dr Kamalam.
Dr Thambaiah stopped active practice nearly six months ago. But his students continued to refer patients and tricky cases to him until two months ago. In March, doctors at Sankara Nethralaya wanted to know if they could operate on one of the patients who had an infectious skin disease. He approved the surgery after seeing the patient. That was his last case.
To his students, he would say, "medicine is a jealous mistress, it will never let you have another." Dr Thambaiah, as his student and vascular surgeon Dr J Amalorpavanathan put it, "remained as loyal to medicine as a loyal husband would be to his wife."
