NOT only people in Chandigarh but also those connected with healthcare all over the country continue to miss Dr P.N. Chhuttani (1915-1996). Lately, I was moved to hear a poignant tribute from one of his peers who said it was difficult to unveil the pen portrait of Dr Chhuttani, who was a remarkable physician, teacher, policy-maker and ethicist of unyielding professional principles and great integrity.

Dr P.N. Chhuttani’s fifth death anniversary fell on July 19

Dr Chhuttani, a unique and striking personality, strode across the Indian medical horizon like a colossus for half a century.

Dr Chhuttani’s commitment to his work was recognised wherever he worked, whether it was at Lahore, Amritsar, Patiala or Chandigarh. He put in all his efforts to further the cause for which the institutions were established.

He was widely respected both in India and abroad for his professional excellence. He was loved by his students and colleagues for his generosity and warmth. He was frank and fearless and, therefore, he might have rubbed a few people the wrong way, but nobody doubted his sincerity.

What he has built in Chandigarh is for anyone to see. One of the pioneers of the Post-graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, he left behind a world-class team of colleagues and students. The tradition of autopsies that he started with the active collaboration of Dr B.K. Aikat and the clinico-pathological exercises that he encouraged will remain powerful aids of teaching. His consideration for the patients was exemplary.

Dr Chhuttani insisted on hard work. He said, "What does matter is the sense of power which comes from steady working." He divided his time well between his academic interests and administrative responsibilities. His administrative duties in no way hindered his work.

Systematic and highly organised, Dr Chhuttani worked for long hours. His attitude towards worldly things (family, friends and fortune) was that of an honest tenant rather than that of a proud owner. He did not believe in giving way to emotions, rather believed in enriching one’s life by active contact with others. He felt that when emotions built up reasoning became the first casualty, leading to misunderstanding, misinterpretation and wrong conclusions. He used to say, "Think and act for the good of others for your own emotional and social security."

Read today Dr Chhuttani’s articles pertaining to health, published in The Tribune. Written for the laity, they still have an intrinsic value and a universal appeal. The topics range from AIDS to alcohol, tobacco, cholera, heart, malaria, obesity, social psychiatry, tuberculosis and typhoid. It may be worthwhile to share with the readers his interesting comments on the relationship between the psyche and the tummy.

The following examples that he gave are amusing, but relevant:

"The moment I meet my mother-in-law my appetite disappears."

"I could not stomach his lies."

"She can’t digest my secrets, she vomits them out at the first quarrel we have."

"If your sister-in-law is doing so well why does it give you pain in the tummy?"

"I am so disappointed with my son that my stomach is on fire."

"I can’t swallow this kind of treatment."

"The situation was so nauseating and the scene so repulsive that I started vomitting."

"When the police surrounded our neighbouring farm, I developed uncontrollable diarrhoea."

"I was so grieved that my food wouldn’t go down."

"He is such a constipated fellow that he can’t fork out a penny."

His views, based on unequivocal and scientific facts, on maternal and child health, demographic disasters, highway deaths, crisis of old age, noise pollution, tobacco toll, helmets for cyclists and a host of other problems need to be heeded to to avoid catastrophes of our own making.