It is now well
known that late Dr. Subhash Mukherjee from Calcutta was India’s first test-tube
baby maker. This article aims to clarify some points and show the magnificent
munificence and righteousness of another great reproductive biologist Dr. T.C.Anand
Kumar who reinstated Dr. Mukherjee with full glory.
Dr. Mukherjee did make India’s first test tube
baby Durga Agarwal in 1978.He was actually the second person in the whole world
to make a test tube baby. He was a little late , actually by few months after
Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe’s first test tube baby in the world. This
signifies Dr Subhas Mukherjee’s scientific efforts and novelty of the process.
However he was not credited for what he achieved for a long time. Vilified by
doctors in Kolkata he committed suicide. It was Dr TC Anand Kumar, a famous
reproductive biologist who made India’s first documented test tube baby in
Bombay in 1986, found out Dr Mukherjee’s work while attending science congress
in Kolkata. Dr Anand Kumar later declared that it was not him, but Dr Subhas
Mukherjee who should be credited for India’s first test tube baby (1). There
are ample evidences of Dr. Mukherjee’s published work which Dr.T.C.Anand Kumar
appended in the end of his article in Current Science (1). Moreover Dr. Anand
Kumar discussed Dr. Mukherjee’s techniques in details and how it differed from
Dr. Robert Edward and Steptoe’s work (2).
It was in a 6
page long historical note in the leading Indian science journal “Current
Science” published in 1997, Dr.T.C.Anand Kumar relinquished glory to Subhash
Mukherjee (1). Dr.Anand Kumar was the director of Institute for Research in
Reproduction in Bombay [now known as National Institute for Research in Reproductive
Health (NIRRH)] when birth of Harsha, supposedly
India’s first test-tube baby was declared in 1986. He was also a reproductive
biologist par excellence. He mentions that he was unaware of Mukherjee’s
achievements and clarified beyond doubt in that landmark article that it was
Mukherjee, not him, who was responsible for producing India’s first test tube
baby Durga Agarwal in 1978 in Calcutta (1). Rarely do we come across such
liberal and honest-to-the-core soul in a highly competitive world who can give
away his laurels to the deserving one. By relinquishing his glory Dr TC Anand
Kumar displayed his nobility.
Secondly it is
also not true that the ICMR and Indian medical fraternity have not corrected
this historical error of omission of Mukherjee’s achievements. The website of
the Dr. Subhas Mukherjee Memorial Reproductive Biology Research Centre in
Kolkata declares that in 2002 ” The Indian Council of Medical Research
acknowledge the contributions of Subhas Mukherjee with regard to the work on
IVF and recorded it in their document “National Guidelines for Accreditation,
Supervision and Regulations of ART Clinics in India”.”(3).
It is pertinent
to note that Indian scientists were always at par with their Western
counterparts in the field of IVF. Prof. Robert Edwards, 2010 Nobel laureate for
medicine in the field of IVF went to the same place, Edinburgh to study
reproductive physiology as did Dr.Mukherjee. Prof Edwards depended on natural
menstrual cycle to collect ovum whereas Dr.Mukherjee used the hormone
gonadotrophin to stimulate ovum production. Freezing of embryo in liquid
nitrogen and implantation of fertilized ovum in next cycle was another
innovation from Mukherjee’s side (2). It should not be forgotten that IVF is
still the only method to make embryonic stem cell. Stem cells are rage these
days due to the infinite hope raised by their therapeutic value in treating
neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, burns, fatal anemia, blindness etc.
Though embryonic stem cell research is embroiled in moral and ethical issues
and fulcrum is now bent towards pluripotent stem cell, still ease of IVF
procedure and procurement of embryonic stem cells make IVF a mainstay for stem
cell research. IVF is also the main way to clone animals. Dolly, the cloned
sheep that grabbed popular attention in 1997 would not have been made without
IVF. It appears IVF has far-reaching impact and without the pioneering work of
Edwards, Steptoe, Mukherjee etc IVF would not have come this far.
Dr.T.C.Anand Kumar
passed away in January, 2010 (4). It is surprising that Bengal, otherwise known
for its progressive and liberal attitude, vilified Mukherjee and cornered him
to commit a suicide. Loosely based on his life Ramapada Chowdhury, a Bengali
writer wrote a novel “Avimanyu”. Mr.Chowdhury likened Dr.Mukherjee’s life as
claustrophobic as Avimanyu, the Mahabharata character suffered. Tapan Sinha’s “Ek
doctor ki maut” was in turn based on this novel. I remember one newspaper report
of 2006 published in Anandabazar Patrika wherein it was written that
Dr.Mukherjee’s wife was impoverished and uncared for even though his students
were minting money from this IVF business in Kolkata that this man spawned.
Such is life. Restitution of Subhash Mukherjee’s glory actually came from a
quarter least expected. It was not from Bengal intelligentsia but from
Dr.T.C.Anand Kumar of Mumbai. And that makes Dr.T.C.Anand Kumar so special to
the Bengalis of Kolkata!
References:
1. T.C.Anand
Kumar (1997).Architect of India’s first test-tube baby:Dr.Subhash Mukherjee(16
January 1931 to 19 July 1981).Current
Science, vol 72,no.7,pg 526-531
2. T.C.Anand
Kumar (2004). In vitro fertilization in India. Current Science, vol 86,
no.2, pg 254-256
4. Rajvi H. Mehta. (2010) Dr T.C. Anand Kumar -
a doyen in reproductive biology. Indian J Med Res 131, March 2010, pg 466-467
