Deputy commissioner Ravi Shankar Shukla on Sunday unveiled the statue of Dr Subhash Mukhopadhyay who gave India her first test tube baby Durga in 1978.
The DC termed the day "big" for Hazaribag as this was the birthplace of Mukhopadhyay. He said Mukhopadhyay story will inspire each and every generation.
Born on January 16, 1931 at his maternal grandfather's house Anupam, Mukhopadhyay graduated in medicine in 1955 and obtained a doctorate in reproductive physiology in 1958, both from Calcutta, and in reproductive endocrinology from Edinburgh (UK) in 1967.
He worked with cryobiologist Dr Sumit Mukherjee and gynaecologist Dr Saroj Kanti Bhattacharya for the first test tube baby of the country, Durga, on October 3, 1978. But his work never get the recognition with government terming his claiming false making Mukhopadhyay to commit suicide in 1981. But later in 2001, his claim was accepted internationally.
At his home town, his has been placed near Leprosy department and has come up at the cost Rs.1.5 lakh contributed by NTPC.
On this occasion, Dr Sumit and Durga's father Prabhat Agarwal were also present. Sumit said he had so many memories of Mukhopadhyay who was having a laboratory at his house where they all used to work. He said Mukhopadhyay was a great man who made possible IVF in India long back. Agarwal said the happiness he is now having in his life is because of Mukhopadhyay.
He said it was really very painful for them when Mukhopadhyay's claim was rejected. We again remained shocked when this talented doctor committed suicide in 1981. I am so happy that finally he got respect at his hometown also, added he.
Others present on the occassion were Sajal Mukherjee, physician Rajat Chakrabertty and NTPC GM Partha Majumdar.