R G Kar Medical College students pay tribute to Surgeon Lalit Mohan Banerji

The programme was organised to familiarise present-day medical students with Banerji's remarkable contribution to Indian medicine. He was India's first professor of surgery and operated on eminent personalities, including Rabindranath Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. He had also served as the personal surgeon to the President of India.

As part of the commemorative programme, students organised a cleanliness drive around Banerji's grave and subsequently decorated the site with flowers and candles as a mark of respect. Rev Saikat Nath, pastor of Holy Trinity Church, conducted a special memorial prayer in honour of the late surgeon, remembering his contributions to the medical profession.

Wangdup Lama, an intern, informed the Times of India that representatives from the Association of Surgeons of India joined the event, bringing together doctors, the church, and the student community. “There was something deeply meaningful about this gathering. Doctors and students from the institute Banerji helped shape stood together at his resting place. Though separated by generations, they were bound by the same calling”.

“We knew about medical luminaries such as B C Roy, Kadambini Ganguly and Nil Ratan Sarkar, but not much about Lalit Mohan Banerji. This was our attempt at getting deeper into his medical legacy,” said Nisar Alam, an MBBS final-year student.

Dr Lalit Mohan Banerjee had the distinction of being the first medical professional to receive a Master of Surgery (MS) degree from the University of Calcutta. He completed his MBBS from Calcutta Medical College in the year 1904 and completed his MS Surgery in 1913. Then he went to the UK for the FRCS degree in 1913, and he completed FRCS in 1915.

In the year 1955, he was bestowed with the Padma Bhushan award in the field of medicine. He was a Professor of surgery at R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital of the University of Calcutta and the personal surgeon to the President of India. He was one of the founders of the Association of Surgeons of India and was its third president (1941–1942).

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