KENDRAPARA: Dr Gobinda Chandra Dash’s name may not ring any bells in public consciousness, but the nonagenarian physician of Kendrapara town was one of the doctors to treat Jawaharlal Nehru at Bhubaneswar in 1964. The country’s first Prime Minister had suffered a mild stroke during his visit to the State.On January 6, 1964, Nehru was attending the 68th session of the Indian National Congress held at Gopabandhu Nagar in Bhubaneswar. He spoke there for two minutes but suddenly felt tired and weak with rise in blood pressure.
Nehru was confined to a bed in the Raj Bhawan for next six days. Dash, a resident of Balagandi in Kendrapara town, was a member in the team of doctors that treated Nehru. On the eve of Nehru’s birth anniversary, the 94-year-old Dash recounted the experience of treating him.
Nehru was staying at Raj Bhawan and daughter Indira was by his side most of the time. A large number of people waited outside the Governor’s residence everyday waiting for the news of the Prime Minister’s health, Dash recalled.President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Nehru’s sister Vijaya Laxmi Pandit and many other high profile persons telephoned the Governor’s house several times to enquire about the Prime Minister’s condition.
Dash was among the first batch of medical students of SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack in 1944. After MBBS, he worked in the Indian Army from 1949 to 1957 and was posted in Punjab, Pune and other places. In 1958, he started working in SCB and was the personal physician of the Governor from 1959 to 1964.
