RIP Dr.Ramesh Raichoudhury

Cardiothoracic Surgeon and a founder of the Kalinga Hospital in Bhubaneswar, Dr. Ramesh Chandra Raichoudhury from New York, USA passed away yesterday. My family knew him personally, especially my father and my sister who were close to their family. He lived in Long Island where my sister attended one of his son's marriage. A thorough gentleman with unparalleled love for Odisha, with a laser focused drive to do something for his home state back home, he helped in establishing Kalinga Hospital in Bhubaneswar in the 1990s. 

Ramesh Mausa did coronary bypass surgery on my father's ailing heart at the Kalinga Hospital in the year 2000. I have met him couple of times in Bhubaneswar while accompanying my father. He was a very amicable, down to earth person. No ego, no aura of aggrandizement around him. A man of strong work ethics and a professional will to build a world class Hospital in Odisha, he finally saw his dream come true, ending up being one of the pioneers involved in building  Kalinga Hospital. The hospital was his brain child, the first of its kind in the poor state of Odisha. He managed to see it take shape in spite of serious hurdles placed in form of the bureaucracy in Odisha notorious for being inept and corrupt. 

In 2005 when I met him at Kalinga Hospital along with my father, I asked him his life as a doctor during his initial days in US. He fondly remembered how back in those days the insurance companies were very cooperative, approval of claims was shoo in, making the life of a doctor a whole lot easier. My small mind barely understood the nitty gritty details of all these, but could comprehend that the life was much healthier then than now. During the tete-a-tete my father took out a packet of "Gundi" (unscented raw tobacco) out of his pocket and popped it into his mouth. Dr. Raichoudhury mildly chastised my father to stop this bad habit as tobacco is harmful to health. I also followed Ramesh Mausa's suit echoing his concern. But it hardly affected my father as the doc's advice entered one ear and came out of the other. Now at 82, he still continues to liberally munches his "Gundi" to kick his bowel movement every morning, followed by several mouthfuls all day. 

Ramesh Mausa continued to actively serve Kalinga Hospital and Utkal Pradesh (state of Odisha) leaving no stone unturned well into his ripe age. May God give his family strength to bear the pain of bereavement of a rare gentleman doc who carved his niche. Om 🕉 Shanti.