Dilip Mahalanabis facts for kids

Dilip Mahalanabis (born November 12, 1934 – died October 16, 2022) was an Indian paediatrician. He is famous for creating and using a special drink called oral rehydration therapy (ORT). This simple drink helps treat serious diarrhoeal diseases.

Dr. Mahalanabis started his research on ORT in 1966. He worked for the Johns Hopkins University International Center in Calcutta, India. In 1971, during the Bangladesh Liberation War, many refugees got cholera. Dr. Mahalanabis led a team that showed how ORT could save many lives. This simple and cheap solution, called Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS), became very important. People later called it one of the greatest medical advances of the 20th century.

From 1975 to 1979, Dr. Mahalanabis worked for the World Health Organization (WHO). He helped control cholera in countries like Afghanistan, Egypt, and Yemen. He also advised the WHO on how to manage bacterial diseases.

Early Life and Education

Dilip Mahalanabis was born on November 12, 1934, in the Kishoreganj area of British India. He studied at the Calcutta Medical College. In 1958, he became a paediatrician, which is a doctor for children. He then went to the UK to study more medicine. He earned degrees from London and Edinburgh.

His Amazing Medical Career

While in the UK, Dr. Mahalanabis became the first Indian doctor to be a registrar at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children. In the 1960s, he joined the Johns Hopkins University International Centre in Kolkata. This is where he began his important work on oral rehydration therapy.

Saving Lives with ORT in Refugee Camps

The war in Bangladesh in 1971 caused many people to become refugees in India. Cholera spread quickly among these tired and hungry people. It was very deadly, with about 30% of those infected dying. Dr. Mahalanabis and his team from Johns Hopkins went to help.

They set up a treatment center near the border in Bongaon. They had very few beds and not enough special fluids for IVs. Dr. Mahalanabis knew that oral rehydration alone could stop people from getting dangerously dehydrated. Only very sick patients would need IV fluids.

He used a simple oral rehydration solution (ORS). It was made from things found nearby. The mixture had sugar (glucose), common salt, and a little baking soda in water. The ingredients were weighed and put into sealed bags. People just added this powder to clean water in drums. This solution was very cheap, costing only about 1.5 cents per liter.

Because the therapy was so simple, family members could give the ORS to the patients. Children also received potassium, sometimes from coconut water. Over eight weeks, Dr. Mahalanabis and his team treated 3,700 patients. Only 135 of them died. This meant the death rate dropped from 30% to just 3.6%! In one special tent, the death rate was even lower, at 1%.

A WHO leader, Dr. Dhiman Barua, visited the camp and saw how well ORT worked. He started telling everyone at the WHO and UNICEF about it. Even though it saved so many lives, some scientists were still unsure. It took seven more years for ORT to be fully accepted as a great treatment for dehydration. Dr. Mahalanabis never patented his ORS formula, so it could be used freely by everyone.

Later Work and Impact

After his work in the refugee camps, Dr. Mahalanabis continued to make a difference. He worked for the WHO from 1975 to 1979, helping with cholera control in different countries. In the 1980s, he advised the WHO on how to fight bacterial diseases.

He also worked as a medical officer for the WHO's Diarrheal Disease Control Programme. In 1990, he joined the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (ICDDR,B) in Bangladesh. He later became the Director of Clinical Research there. He continued to work on improving ORS to make it even more effective.

Awards and Honours

Dr. Mahalanabis received many important awards for his life-saving work:

• In 1994, he became a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
• In 2002, he and his colleagues, Dr. Nathaniel Pierce, Dr. David Nalin, and Dr. Norbert Hirschhorn, won the first Pollin Prize for Pediatric Research. This award recognized their work on discovering and using oral rehydration therapy.
• In 2006, Dr. Mahalanabis, Dr. Richard A. Cash, and Dr. David Nalin received the Prince Mahidol Prize. This was also for their big role in developing and using ORT.

Personal Life and Death

Dilip Mahalanabis was married to Jayanti Mahalanabis. He passed away on October 16, 2022, in Kolkata, West Bengal, at the age of 87. He had been suffering from a lung infection and other health issues related to old age.