Dr R E Thangaraj, ‘An Autobiographical Sketch’ in S S Naik (ed) The Indian Leprologists Look Back. Bombay, 1990, pp.129-130.

I was born on 21st March 1930 to Dr and Mrs Sudarshan Raj. I have studied in the local board high school in Salur up to the Maine and then did my intermediate at the Mrs AVM College in Visakhapatnam from 1946-48. I had an uneventful life and passed my examinations regularly. Then I entered the Andhra Medical College at Visakhapatnam in July 1948, and after studying the pre-clinical at Vitag, I got a transfer from Andhra Medical College to the Christian Medical College, Vellore in June 1951. I finished my clinical studies in March 1954 and immediately did my internship for one year. My father the late Dr Sudarshan Raj worked as the Medical Superintendent of the Philadelphia Leprosy Hospital at Salur from 1921 until his death in 1944. It is my father’s work which motivated me to work in the leprosy field with leprosy patients. I worked continuously for 33 years with the leprosy patients and retired as Director of the Leprosy Mission for Southern Asia prematurely in June 1987 due to health reasons.

My main contributions to the field of leprosy have been surgery, rehabilitation and control. As Director of the Leprosy Mission in Southern Asia I have started many control programmes covering a population of 6 million in India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma and Nepal.

I have also devised two new operations, one for foot drop and the other for lagophthalmos for which I was awarded the Fellowship of the American College and the Fellowship of the International College of Surgeons. For the first 23 years I was actually connected with clinical leprosy. I started my life in Karigiri as a medical officer and later on worked as a surgeon for the Purulia Leprosy Hospital. I was in England and the United States for 5 years specialising in Orthopaedics and Plastic Surgery. Later on I became Surgeon and Superintendent of the Philadelphia Leprosy Hospital, Salur, from 1965 and developed the centre as a major surgical research and training centre. In January 1978, I was promoted as the Director for the Leprosy Mission for Southern Asia and occupied that post until my retirement in 1987.

I was a member of the Swaminathan Committee and chaired its Committee on Health Education. I was also the Vice-President of the Hind Kushta Nivaran Sangh tier for 4 years. I was also the Vice-President of the Council of the International Organisation of Medical Sciences, affiliated to the World Health Organisation and UNESCO. I organised the XIIth International Leprosy Congress in New Delhi in 1984 where nearly 1600 participants attended. The President of India, Mr Zail Singh, inaugurated the Congress, and the late Mrs Gandhi - then Prime Minister - gave the keynote address. At this Congress I was elected the First Asian Secretary-General of the International Leprosy Association. I was also the President of the Indian Association of Leprologists for two years, i.e. 1986 and 1987. As Secretary of the International Leprosy Association, I also organised the scientific programme of the XIIIth International Leprosy Congress held at The Hague in 1988.

The introduction of MDT would constantly bring down the prevalence and, probably, the incidence of leprosy in India. But the most difficult part will be the total eradication of leprosy from this continent, as long as the present socio-economic conditions persist.

I was trained by Dr Paul Brand in Surgery. Dr Cochrane used to visit Purulia regularly and taught me a lot about clinical leprosy. I closed worked with Dr Dharmendra during the XIIth International Leprosy Congress. Dr Job was a personal friend of mine.

I strongly feel that the time still has not come for the integration of leprosy into the general medical services, but the attempt should be made even from now to involve, train, and develop education material for the personnel in the general and integrated medical services so that they can closely be involved in the detection of leprosy.

My hobbies are photography, gardening, writing and developing socioeconomic developmental programmes. I am the author of A Manual of Leprosy, Leprosy for Medical Practitioners and Paramedical Workers, and co-author of Orientation of Leprosy for Doctors.

This entry was created 31 August 2006