Krishnamoorthy Srinivas, eminent neurologist and teacher, died early on Wednesday. He was 84. True to the ethics he lived by, he even attended his clinic at the Voluntary Health Services (VHS), Taramani, on Saturday, a day before he took ill.
S. Suresh, honorary secretary, VHS, said: “The fact that he was there gave stature to our campus.”
For those at the VHS, he was the father figure whose influence was subtle but certain, and many stopped by to seek his advice. He would study in detail the history of every patient, do an examination, spend a lot of time on each case, and then offer his conclusion. “For me, a person like him is irreplaceable. He will live in our hearts for ever,” he added.
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Revered for his expansive knowledge, razor sharp memory, his meticulous, deliberate approach to patients, wit and humour, commitment to the profession and teaching and his desire to work with the poor in the path of K.S. Sanjivi, the founder of the VHS, Prof. Srinivas was a well-known name in Chennai.
Born in 1933 in Kozhikode to Janaki Ammal and E.S. Krishnamoorthy, an ICS officer, Prof. Srinivas had his early education in Kobe, Japan. He attended the Doon School, and went on to Madras Medical College. On graduation, he joined Safdurjung Hospital, Delhi. Higher education abroad called out to him, and he sailed to Canada, and later, England. It was his time with John Walton at the Regional Neurological Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, that turned out to be a great influence on his career.
He returned to Chennai, and gravitated towards his teacher Sanjivi, and the Public Health Centre (PHC), West Mambalam.
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He also joined the Institute of Neurology, Government General Hospital, and headed an academic unit, tutoring several generations of students.
Thara Srinivasan, Director, SCARF, was one of them: “He was an excellent teacher. We’ve always been in awe of his knowledge, and particularly of the history of medicine and neurology. He was a wonderful clinician, and insisted on proper patient examination,” she said.
From 1965, he managed to balance the development of two very successful clinical departments – the K. Gopalakrishna Department of Neurology at the VHS and the T.S. Srinivasan Dept. of Neurology at the PHC. Lakshmi Vijayakumar, founder trustee, Sneha, said: “Prof. Srinivas built a great team – he told us that neurology warrants a multidisciplinary approach, and that a team would have to take a comprehensive look at the patient.”
His endowment orations were landmark events in the scientific calendar here. Multiple awards and honours found their way to him. He was then the youngest Indian neurologist to be awarded the triple FRCP; he was honorary member of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurological Association; he was consultant to the Armed Forces; and a Fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences and the Indian College of Physicians.
Senior psychiatrist S. Nambi, who was his student, said he showed people how to be a perfectionist.
He is survived by his wife Padma, daughter Aparna, and son E.S. Krishnamoorthy, a leader himself in the field of neuropsychiatry.