The man who championed India’s public health programmes dies

2018.

Born in Salem in Tamil Nadu, Dr Gopalan completed his MD from Madras Medical College in 1943 and did his PHD in nutrition in the UK in 1949. He began his career in nutrition at the Nutrition Research Laboratory in Coonoor, which soon shifted to Hyderabad, where Dr Gopalan took over as the director in 1962.

I first met Dr Gopalan when he was the DG of ICMR and I was a senior research officer. He asked me to move from ICRM Delhi to NIN Hyderabad to look after the clinical component of a WHOICMR collaborative study on the impact of hormonal contraceptives on undernourished women. When I said I knew little about nutrition, he said, “NIN needs a person with experience in clinical trials; you will initially get help in the nutritional aspects, but you’ll have to quickly acquire expertise in nutrition.” That was the beginning of my journey in what for me was uncharted seas. I am one of the many researchers who benefitted from Dr Gopalan’s ability to spot potential and push people to challenging tasks to hasten their professional development.

Dr Gopalan had a huge role to play in the universal salt iodisation programme. Dr Rajan Sankar, who is now a senior specialist at TATA Trusts but began his career at the Army Medical Corps, followed his advice in directing focus to salt iodisation in Sikkim, which paved the way for the universal salt iodisation programme in India, and ensured that 92% of households now consume salt iodine fortification.

Universal salt iodisation, along with the many supplementation and fortification programmes in India championed by Dr Gopalan, are nothing short of public health triumphs.