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| OBITUARY |
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| Year : 2012 | Volume
: 60
| Issue : 4 | Page : 457-458 |
Prof. P. P. S. Mathur
RS Mittal
Department of Neurosurgery, S M S Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
| Date of Web Publication | 6-Sep-2012 |
Correspondence Address:
R S Mittal
Department of Neurosurgery, S M S Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
How to cite this article:
Mittal R S. Prof. P. P. S. Mathur. Neurol India 2012;60:457-8 |
With a deep sense of sorrow I write this obituary to an individual of the stature of Prof. Prem Prakash S. Mathur; who perfected every field of life. He was born in 1949 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. He completed his medical schooling in 1971 from Dr. S.N. Medical College, Jodhpur. Throughout his student career, he was one of the most brilliant students. He did Masters Degree in General Surgery in 1975 from S P Medical College, Bikaner. He underwent his neurosurgical training at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, and completed the same in 1978.
Prof P.P.S. Mathur was fortunate to have training from well-recognized teachers, Prof. Dr. Gulati, Prof. K.S. Mann, and Dr. Susheel Kumar. His teachers always admired him as one of the hard working, dedicated, intelligent, and a simple trainee. He was lucky to have caring advisor and senior colleague in Prof V.K. Khosla. Soon after completion of M Ch (Neurosurgery) he joined as Lecturer in Neurosurgery at SMS Medical College Jaipur. He had short-term training in Neurosurgery at Cincinnati under Prof. John Tew. Prof. Mathur was not just a great academician but also pioneering neurosurgeon and contributed tremendously to the development of neurosurgical services in the state of Rajasthan and benefited the suburban and rural population of Rajasthan. It is a commendable task to initiate such services from a scratch in a state government sector with severe financial constraints. Completion of such a mission is much more difficult for an individual without any political and bureaucratic background. This was indeed a marvelous achievement for a person from a low middle class family with lot of personal responsibilities to rise to this position and take up such a challenging task. He was fortunate to have an equally enthusiastic and supportive senior colleague with whom he was associated from the day of his joining, as a faculty member, till the last day of his tenure in S M S Hospital. Both of them could jointly build the department to a national repute. He along with his senior and junior associates and neurology colleagues were able to emphasize a dire need of development of neurosciences in the region and could obtain an independent Neurosciences Centre in SMS Medical College, 26 years back. National pioneers in Neurosurgery at Skull-base Surgery Conference at Chennai admired the faculty of Neurosurgery of SMS Medical College, Jaipur. The department not only achieved the heights in clinical services in the presence of Dr. P.P.S. Mathur but also got recognition in the field of neurotrauma and spine surgery with the help of other faculty colleagues. The tireless efforts of this close associate (a second Professor) did not cease but continued uphill by formulating another neurosciences block housing four operating rooms and intensive care unit. Ultimately, both the colleagues along with the other faculty members could formulate an excellent setup at this state funded medical college.
During his tenure 30 M Ch students have been trained in Neurosurgery. He had an earnest desire to contribute his best to the SMS Medical College and Hospital in general, other than the specialty of neurosurgery. To fulfill this goal, he took responsibility of Medical Superintendent, SMS Hospital, Jaipur, for 2 years. His zeal to work for the state medical services and medical education did not stop even after achieving an appropriate and desirable set up in Neurosurgery and contributions to S M S Hospital in general. Later, he wanted to create a niche in state medical education, which he was able to do as a founder Vice Chancellor of the newly commissioned Rajasthan Medical University. He also achieved laurels in this capacity, by streamlining the entrance examination system for medical education, in undergraduate, postgraduate, and postdoctoral courses. This mission also could be successfully accomplished by utilization of his long-standing respected relationship with the faculty in all the specialties at the place of his training, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh. He made all the efforts to establish collaboration of Rajasthan Medical University with International Universities of repute.
In addition to being a successful functionary in neurosurgery and medical education, he is also remembered as an excellent human being. He was admired and loved alike by his seniors, associates, juniors, residents, paramedical staff, official staff, and patients. It is impossible not to be emotional after having associated with him for 25 years. Many of his colleagues continue to have a lifelong personal bond not only with him but also with his family as a whole.
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