166
• This oration will be held annually or any appropriate occasion decided by Director/
Dean/Department.
Brief Summary
Prof O.P. Ghaiwas Past National President of IAP, and former Dean, All India Institute of
Medical Sciences, New Delhi The doyen of child health in India, former Professor and
Head of the Department of Pediatrics, Dean of the All India Institute Medical Sciences,
and a past president of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, Prof Om Prakash Ghai, passed
away on 24th May 2008. He was 80 years old and had suered a stroke a few days ago.
Professor Om Prakash Ghai was born on 14th April 1928. He joined the Government
Lahore Medical College for MBBS course, but had to shift to the Government Medical
College Amritsar in the wake of partition after independence from where completed
undergraduation. He obtained DCH from Bombay University (1953) and MD (Pediatrics)
from Medical College Indore in 1958 under the mentorship of the legendary Professor
J.M. Pohowala who inuenced him immensely. He worked as a Registrar in Pediatrics
at the Irwin Hospital. Professor Ghai started the Department of Pediatrics at the All
India Institute of Medical Sciences in on 12th January 1959 with six beds for children.
He obtained advanced training in Pediatrics from Children Medical Center, Harvard
University, and was a recipient of Rockefellar Foundation Fellowship. A renowned child
specialist, Prof Ghai remained the head of the department of pediatrics at AIIMS for over
25 years (1962-89). Under his leadership, the department evolved into a multi-specialty
institution of international repute. His clinical acumen was legendary. He excelled as
a keen researcher, especially in the areas of childhood diarrhea, micronutrients and
Indian childhood cirrhosis. As a teacher and role model, he inspired an entire generation
of pediatricians in the country. Many of his students achieved top positions in the
profession, academia and government. He had superb writing skills. He was the Editor
of the Indian Pediatrics in 1973-75. A vast majority of MBBS and nursing students, the
budding doctors and nurses in the country, receive fundamental lessons in child health
from his famous textbook, ‘Essential Pediatrics’. He rose to occupy the high oce of the
Dean of AIIMS prior to his superannuation in 1988. Prof. Ghai was the National President
of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics in 1978. He organized the International Congress
of Pediatrics in 1977, the rst international conference in Pediatrics in India. Prof Ghai
was a recipient of numerous honors including the fellowships of the Indian Academy
of Pediatrics, International College of Pediatrics, and the National Academy of Medical
Sciences (India), as well as the Kamla Menon award for research in diarrheal disease. He
also received the ‘Insignia of Merit’ medallion of the International Pediatric Association.
He had an informal, friendly, participatory and spontaneous style of work. He inspired
his students and colleagues by igniting new ideas in a very unassuming way. He earned
respect not by authority, but by the power of his ideas and gentleness. Dr. Ghai was a
visionary in true sense. His name will forever remain etched to the annals of pediatrics
and child health of our country. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.