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No-1, Ist Cross Street, Off. II Main Road, Raja Annamalaipuram, Chennai – 600 028.
Phone : + 91 44-24 311 411 / 412 / 413 / 414 / 415 + 91 44-24 311 416
Our Inspiration
Prof Shanmugam Kameswaran (1923-2021)
Our Inspiration
Professor Shanmugam Kameswaran was born in 1923 and did his MBBS and MS at Madras Medical College, India, under Prof. PV Cherian who later became the Governor of Maharashtra, India. He worked as his assistant and left for the UK in the 1950s along with his wife, Dr Lalitha Kameswaran, who went on to do her PhD at the University of London. He had a very close association with his colleagues in the UK and was trained at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, Gray’s Inn Road, under Prof Maxwell Ellis in the 1950s.
He was a friend and compatriot of eminent ENT surgeons in the UK, such as Sir DFN Harrison and John Ballantyne before returning to India serving as Prof of ENT at Madurai medical college and later as Director of the upgraded Institute of Otorhinolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery (ORL-HNS) at Madras Medical College. His textbook on ENT disorders in the tropics was an authoritative work on the subject and the only one at that time. He himself had done significant work on rhinosporidiosis, a tropical fungal disease which led to a PhD; the first by an Indian otolaryngologist. He was passionate about the subject and felt that with the world shrinking, tropical diseases were no longer the domain of the tropics, a view vindicated by the recent pandemic.
He was awarded the Padma Shri Award, the fourth highest civilian award in India, and Dr BC Roy Award, the highest award for a doctor, given by the President of India. He was a consultant for the WHO, as well as being the longest serving Director of the Institute of Otorhinolaryngology at Madras Medical College until his retirement. His son, Prof Mohan Kameswaran, followed in his footsteps, and they are the only father-son doctor duo in the history of the country to have both been honored with the Padma Shri and BC Roy awards. Prof Mohan Kameswaran established in 1996 the Madras ENT Research Foundation (MERF) under the guidance of his father, and this has become a premier institute for tertiary ENT care in India. The cochlear implant programme, started in 1997, was perhaps one of the first in India (and South Asia). The first auditory brainstem implant (ABI) was performed in 2005, and the first pediatric ABI in 2006 - the first in South and Southeast Asia. MERF has several firsts in other aspects of ENT and its allied specialties.
Prof S Kameswaran was a great teacher and mentored several generations of otolaryngologists in India. He was also a great humanitarian who touched the lives of millions of his fellow Indians in a long career spanning over 50 years. He was instrumental in getting the government of the day to come up with several welfare projects for the hearing challenged and enabling people from all socio-economic groups to benefit from hearing rehabilitation.
Many otolaryngologists in India and around the world owe their interest in otolaryngology to him. He served as the Patron of Madras ENT Research Foundation and Emeritus Professor at the TamilNadu Dr. MGR. Medical University until his death. He continues to be the inspirational force behind the success of MERF hospital. In his memoriam, The Prof S Kameswaran library located in the academic wing of the hospital stands proud as one of the largest, comprehensive ENT libraries in this part of the world.