Dr Amruthur Narayana Balasundaram FRCP Edin [Contributed by Professor K S Chandramouli, S t. John’s Medical College Hospital] It is a privilege to have been associated with Dr A N Balasundaram, first as one of his undergraduate students then later as a colleague in the Department of Medicine at St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, India. To all his students he was ANB and popularly nicknamed “Syndrome” for his vast knowledge and remarkable ability to remember syndromes. I shall always remember him as a teacher. His heart and soul lay in teaching. He would be teaching be it undergraduates or postgraduates, be it in the Out-Patient Department or in the In-patient wards. Not a single out-patient session or a ward round would go by without ANB teaching his students something. You can never be a great teacher unless you are a student too, at heart .I have never been in his office without seeing him with a book open in front of him. His thirst for knowledge seemed unending. The only thing that came close to his love of teaching was his love of cricket. Cricket was perhaps the only thing that drew him away from his books, at last for a while! He was generous and humane. In his death we have lost a great teacher and a humane person. A Tribute from a patientDr Balasundaram was an extremely distinguished doctor who served the medical fraternity for several decades in various capacities. He worked as a physician, a researcher and a great teacher in St. John’s Medical Hospital and College. Subsequent to his retirement from St.John’s he continued his service to the medical fraternity and to the patients working from his own hospital, the JBS Nursing Home. We have had the privilege to know Dr ANB for a couple of decades. To us he is not just a family physician but a close friend. In his own words he once said “ You are not my patient but my friend.” What an approach towards his patients. Surely in today’s world where the medial fraternity and hospitals are vying for each other to extract money and make huge profits, Dr ANB stands alone, for his uncompromising stand on principles and medical ethics. He was a keen reader and kept himself updated about the latest in the field of General Medicine. He was a master in this area and had understood the effect of every medicine, its effects and most importantly the side effects. In his free time he would explain the salient features about his course of treatment, the principles of working of medicines, etc very convincingly. By his ever smiling and reassuring nature he would make every patient feel at ease, relaxed. Regarding his hobbies he was a keen follower of sport like cricket. He was also interested in Carnatic music and literature. With his untimely death we have lost a close friend. This loss will take a very long time to be removed from memory and he pain will remain for many more years to come. May God grant him peace.
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Born: 27/07/1934