A pediatrics patriarch

Died: Dr Jamshed Nariman Pohowalla, 88, founder member and past president of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics and past president of the Indore Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman, on December 13, 2003 in Indore.

His eye for detail, punctuality, discipline, teaching techniques, devotion to duty and thirst for research had impressed his students like Dr B. C. Chhaparwal, vice chancellor of Indore University, and Dr Savita Inam-dar, chairperson of the Madhya Pradesh State Women’s Commission who vouch-ed for Pohowalla’s dedication at the condolence meeting at the Anjuman premises. His bedside manners, endearing love, gentleness and compassion which won the confidence of little children who were brought to him for treatment was further recalled, according to a write-up sent by the present president of the Indore Anjuman Bomi Heerjee, detailing Pohowalla’s educational background, professional accomplishments and community service.

Pohowalla: compassion for children

"His heart lay in pediatrics and in treating children. His mission in life was to have special medical care for children and he knew that this would be possible only if there was a separate department of pediatrics with highly qualified and dedicated doctors trained in this field. Towards this goal all his efforts and dreams were clearly defined and he gave up practice as a general physician,” recounted Heerjee. Thanks to Pohowalla’s efforts a pediatric department was set up at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College in Indore and he was appointed professor of this new specialty. The department was upgraded for postgraduate studies and research and it became one of the leading pediatric centers of the country.

As a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow he had an opportunity to study the working of pediatric departments of leading universities in the USA and as Nuffield Foundation Fellow he acquainted himself with the departments in UK. His untiring efforts to earn national recognition for this specialty resulted in the formation of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics. Besides being its founder member he became the president of this institute in 1970 and was honored with the Fellowship of the Academy in 1977, writes Heerjee.

At the time of his retirement he was offered an extension in service by the State Government. But the good doctor refused on the grounds that it would signify that he was unable to train any successor! After considerable persuasion from the state minister who had been a student of his, he agreed to accept the post of professor emeritus and adviser in child health to the Government of Madhya Pradesh. Later Pohowalla worked for the World Health Organi-sation for five years as adviser in child health to the governments of Burma and Bangladesh.

His healing touch extended to most Parsi homes in Indore during the 62 years he spent in that city. Born in Navsari, Jamshed was the youngest in a family of four brothers and three sisters. The family relocated to Bombay when Jamshed was six years old. After his early education at the Bharda New High School he studied science at Wilson College and obtained his MBBS degree from the Grant Medical College. In Indore he joined King Edward Hospital Medical School as a tutor in physiology on a starting salary of Rs 180 (see "Indore: a city of opportunity,” Parsiana, February-March 1998). He would cycle to medical school where his punctuality and strictness earned him due respect. Until he found his own accommodation, he stayed with the Ragina family and he had so impressed Ardeshir Ragina that before his death the patriarch told his wife that Jamshed would make an ideal match for their daughter Jinnie. Three years after he landed in Indore Pohowalla wed Jinnie and son Pervez was born three years thereafter.

The following year Pohowalla availed of a Government of India scholarship to do his postgraduate studies in pediatrics in the UK. He passed his Diploma in Child Welfare examinations and had the distinction of being named a Member of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. Son Pervez is an accomplished pediatric neurologist settled in Portland, Oregon, USA.

Pohowalla’s own loyalties lay with India. In fact after the Indo-China War in 1962 he would not charge any fee when military personnel, whether serving or retired, brought their children to him for treatment, remembers Heerjee. The pe-diatrician’s dream of establishing a hospital exclusively for children fructified into the Chhacha Nehru Children and Research Centre, the first phase of which was completed on January 26, 1985. To keep alive his memory there are plans to instal Pohowalla’s statue there, reports Heerjee.

The conscientious pediatrician is survived by his wife Jinnie and son Dr Pervez.