Prof. Arun Kumar Das was born on August 3, 1924 at Shilong. He passed ISC from Presidency College, Kolkata in 1941 and graduated from Calcutta Medical College & Hospitals in the year 1946. He proceeded to UK in 1951 and obtained FRCS (Eng) and FRCS (EDIN) in 1953. He worked in Liverpool Group of Hospitals and Oswestry in UK and came close to Sir Robert Jones and other Doyens of Orthopaedics during his time in the UK.
After his return to India, he was attached to combined unit of Orthopaedics and General Surgery of National Medical College Hospitals for a brief period of 1956 and 1957. In 1958, he joined as honorary orthopedic surgeon at Nil Ratan Sirkar Medical College Kolkata and subsequently became reader and then professor of orthopedics and remained there till the date of his retirement in 1984.
He was a popular teacher and loved teaching of students and practiced many newer orthopedic procedures of that time and encouraged the younger generation to follow and popularize them. He guided many postgraduate orthopedic trainee and motivated them to do academic works and present papers in conferences.
He was honorary visiting surgeon at Dr. B. C. Roy Polio Clinic and Hospital for Crippled Children at Beliaghata from 1955 to 1982 and subsequently became Emeritus professor in the same institute till 1990. His research and development of surgical rehabilitation of post-polio residual palsy, spastics and other congenital anomalies in children made him well known as a popular pediatric orthopedic surgeon. Documentation of long-term follow-up record of his postoperative patients in the above institute is the hallmark in the domain of orthopedics, appreciated by different visiting surgeons coming from different parts of our country and abroad.
HIS PUBLICATIONS
He published 30 articles centered mainly on surgical rehabilitation of post-polio residual palsy in national and international journals. His article on injection fibrosis of quadriceps muscle was published in JBJS (AM) in 1980.[1]
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HIS AFFILIATION WITH IOA
He regularly attended Indian Orthopaedic Association Annual Conferences and participated in many international conferences (SICOT), where he delivered several lectures. In respect to his services for our Orthopaedic Association, he was an executive committee member and member of Editorial Board of IOA. He was Organizing Secretary of IOACON 1976 held at Kolkata. He was Vice President of IOA in 1988. He was one of the first batches of Johnson & Johnson fellows of IOA. He was awarded honorary fellowship of IOA in 1999 at Hyderabad and he received Dr. B. N. Sinha meritorious award of IOA in 2010 at Jaipur.[2]
HIS AFFILIATION WITH WEST BENGAL ORTHOPAEDIC ASSOCIATION (WBOA)
He introduced Bone Tumor Registry of West Bengal Orthopaedic Association (WBOA). He was Past Presidents of WBOA in 1987.[3] He received several honors. He trained several young orthopedic surgeons who made their name in orthopedics, practicing in Kolkata today. He was an open-minded person and never spoke ills of anybody. He guided us satisfactorily in our any problematic situation of personal and academic activities. Professor Das was an upright person, great teacher, guide, organizer, and academician.
We have lost such great man having towering personality in our Orthopaedic Association. He breathed his last breath peacefully on September 13 morning, 2015. He leaves behind his beloved wife, one son, one daughter, and grandchildren.
We pray to God for his sacred soul rest in peace.
In his memory “Prof. A.K. Das Memorial CME” is done every year during Annual Conference of West Bengal Orthopaedic Association (WBOACON).
Financial support and sponsorship
Not applicable.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
REFERENCES
1. Mukherjee PK, Das AK. Injection fibrosis in the quadriceps femoris muscle in children J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1980;62:453–6
2. Indian Orthopaedic Association.Last accessed on 27 Oct 2022 Available from:
https://www.ioaindia.org/
3. West Bengal Orthopaedic Association.Last accessed on 27 Oct 2022 Available from:
https://wboa.in/home/about_us
