Dilip Mahalanabis (12 November 1934 – 16 October 2022)[1] was an Indian paediatrician known for pioneering the use of oral rehydration therapy to treat diarrhoeal diseases.
[3][4][5][6][7] The simple, inexpensive Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) gained acceptance, and was later hailed as one of the most important medical advances of the 20th century.
Dr. Mahalanabis and his team worked along the border of India and East Pakistan, with their treatment center being located in Bongaon.
The 16 beds available to them in two cottages which served as cholera wards were completely insufficient to serve the 350,000 refugees living in the vicinity of the town, cholera wards quickly ran out of space with even floors being completely occupied by sick patients, this necessitated the setting up of a large separate tent with 100 cots.
During a 8 week period in which he and his team administered this therapy to 3700 patients, only 135 cases were fatal translating to a CFR of 3.6% which was a massive decrease from 30% fatality observed earlier, in the separate tent the CFR was even lower at 1%, however the conditions were so poor that half the patients died before any oral rehydration therapy could be even administered.
[12] During this time Dr. Dhiman Barua who was the head of the bacterial diseases unit of the WHO visited the camp managed by Mahalanabis, and began boldly promoting the treatment in the WHO and UNICEF.
[9] In 2004, he and Dr. Nathaniel Pierce were working on an improved version of the ORS which would be more effective at preventing dehydration from all forms diarrhoea and confer addition benefits like reduced stool output.
In 2002 Dr. Mahalanabis, Dr. Nathaniel Pierce, Dr. David Nalin and Dr. Norbert Hirschhorn, were awarded the first Pollin Prize in Pediatric Research for their contributions to the discovery and implementation of oral rehydration therapy.
Cash and Dr. David Nalin were awarded the Prince Mahidol Prize, also for their role in the development and application of oral rehydration therapy.