Dilip Mahalanabis, whose ORS saved lives during 1971 B'desh Liberation War, dies
Oct 17, 2022
Dhaka [Bangladesh], October 17 : Dilip Mahalanabis, whose Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) saved numerous lives during the 1971 Liberation war of Bangladesh, passed away in Kolkata on Sunday, a local media report said.
The doctor was 88 years old when he breathed his last. He used ORS for the first time while treating millions of Bangladeshi refugees in camps near Bangaon in West Bengal in the 1970s.
Mahalanabis cured numerous people suffering from cholera with this ORS and it proved to be a life-giving formula, Bangladesh Live News stated citing a report published in the Bangla Tribune newspaper.
Dilip Mahalanabis has been globally recognized for his extraordinary work. Several international organizations, including the World Health Organization, have also recognized his work which has spanned over the years.
However, he never took out a patent for his invention of Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) which saved uncountable lives.
In 1990, he was also posted as a clinical research officer at the famous ICDDRB in Dhaka, a position he performed efficiently for several years, Bangladesh Live News reported citing the Bengali Tribune newspaper.
For the first time after several years of sustained efforts, a resolution has been tabled in the US House of Representatives recently, declaring Pakistan Army's action against Bengalis and Hindus in 1971 during the Liberation War of Bangladesh as a "genocide" and "crime against humanity".
Bangladesh Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque last month called the greater push for international recognition of genocide carried out on unarmed Bangalees, Bangladesh News Agency reported.
Haque said international recognition of the genocide of 1971 could not be realized 51 years after independence. But Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government declared March 25 as National Genocide Day.
