Last week saw a very heart-warming event at IIT Madras. The Department of Medical Sciences and Technology unveiled a series of plaques commemorating some of the great medical practitioners of the city. Asked to give a brief talk on the medical history of Madras, I pondered over what really made Chennai such a medicare capital, which it undoubtedly is.
Unlike the story of the legal profession in the city, which is very well-documented, medicine remains untouched. And like the history of the law, as and when healthcare is documented, the great stars are bound to dominate the narrative. What has helped the former is that the High Court is an apex body and so gives a focus when chroniclers such V.C. Gopalratnam or N.L. Rajah have taken up the task. In medicine, history remains scattered across multiple institutions, none of them known for their archiving skills, and of private practice, there are even fewer records.
