KENDRAPARA: Dr Gobinda Chandra Dash’s name may not ring any bells in public consciousness, but the nonagenarian physician of Kendrapara town was one of the doctors to treat Jawaharlal Nehru at Bhubaneswar in 1964. The country’s first Prime Minister had suffered a mild stroke during his visit to the State.
On January 6, 1964, Nehru was attending the 68th session of the Indian National Congress held at Gopabandhu Nagar in Bhubaneswar. He spoke there for two minutes but suddenly felt tired and weak with rise in blood pressure.
Nehru was confined to a bed in the Raj Bhawan for next six days. Dash, a resident of Balagandi in Kendrapara town, was a member in the team of doctors that treated Nehru.
On the eve of Nehru’s birth anniversary, the 94-year-old Dash recounted the experience of treating him.
“The day is indelibly etched in my memory. I was working as the personal physician of then Governor of Odisha from 1959 to 1964. Jawaharlal Nehru, then 74-years-old, suffered a paralytic stroke because of high blood pressure and general fatigue that affected his left side. His blood pressure had risen to 215, considered dangerous. We noticed weakness of the left limbs and asked him to cancel all engagements and take complete rest,” he reminisced.
Nehru was staying at Raj Bhawan and daughter Indira was by his side most of the time. A large number of people waited outside the Governor’s residence everyday waiting for the news of the Prime Minister’s health, Dash recalled.
President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Nehru’s sister Vijaya Laxmi Pandit and many other high profile persons telephoned the Governor’s house several times to enquire about the Prime Minister’s condition.
“I once picked up the telephone and found Pandit on the other side. The worried sister asked me to inform her regularly about Nehru’s health status. On January 8, a medical team from New Delhi rushed to Bhubaneswar to provide better treatment to him,” he said.
Following regular treatment, Nehru’s blood pressure came down to a satisfactory level. He was cheerful and spent a good time reading books.
“I still remember him reading ‘History of Orissa’ written by RD Banerjee while lying on his bed. We wanted to ensure nothing wrong happens to him under our treatment . Before leaving, Nehru thanked us for providing him proper care and treatment and saving his life,” Dash says.Nehru left Bhubaneswar on January 12 and later on May 27, the same year breathed his last suffering another stroke in New Delhi.
Dash was among the first batch of medical students of SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack in 1944. After MBBS, he worked in the Indian Army from 1949 to 1957 and was posted in Punjab, Pune and other places. In 1958, he started working in SCB and was the personal physician of the Governor from 1959 to 1964.