The invention of IVF was no less than a blessing for the world. Dr. Sudhanshu Mukhopadhaya was the first doctor to achieve the milestone of creating a test-tube baby in India.
However, his achievement was not celebrated; rather, he faced substantial discredit, forced silence and ridicule, which were among the circumstances surrounding his death by suicide.
There are many couples across the world who want to conceive a baby but, due to medical reasons, are not able to. ART, i.e., assisted reproductive technology, is a beneficial solution for such couples.
IVF is the most common and effective type of ART.
British researchers Dr. Robert G. Edwards and Dr. Patrick Steptoe achieved a monumental scientific breakthrough in the UK on July 25, 1978, with the birth of Louise Brown.
A few days after Louise’s birth in the UK, an Indian team of doctors from Kolkata was able to successfully achieve the world’s second birth through IVF. The team was led by Dr. Subhas Mukhopadhyay and gynaecologist Dr. Saroj Bhattacharya.
Durga, the first IVF child in India and second in the world, was born on October 3, 1978.
Dr. Subhas was the first doctor to use human menopausal gonadotrophin for ovarian stimulation. He was also the first person to have a successful birth from a frozen-thawed embryo.
Dr. Subhas was born on January 16, 1931, in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. His father, Dr. Satyendra Nath Mukherjee, was a radiologist, and his mother, Mrs. Jyotsna Devi, was a big supporter during the early phase of his academic career.
Dr. Subhash completed his Class 10th from Bow Bazar High School, where he was awarded first division honours. He did his Intermediate in a science background from Surendra Nath College.
For his graduation, Dr. Subhas pursued BSc honours in Physiology from Presidency College, one of the most reputed colleges in Calcutta, and earned his MBBS degree from Calcutta Medical College in 1955.
Due to his academic excellence in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, Dr. Subhash received the “Himangini” scholarship and a medal.
Dr. Subhas was inclined towards studying and researching reproductive health in the country. In 1958, he did his PhD in reproductive physiology from Rajabazar Science College under the supervision of Dr. Sachidananda Banerjee.
In 1968, he earned another PhD in reproductive endocrinology from the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of reproductive physiologist Prof. John A. Lorraine.
Dr. Subhas, along with Prof. Sunit Mukherjee, who was a cryobiologist, and Dr. Saroj Kanti Bhattacharya, a gynecologist, was able to achieve the birth of the world's second test-tube baby, Durga, also known as Kanupriya Agarwal, in Calcutta.
Their fairly new IVF method was able to help patients with damaged fallopian tubes conceive, which was an advancement in the field of reproductive medicine.
He used specialised hormone therapies to stimulate ovaries and invented a simple, direct way to harvest eggs through the vaginal wall.
Dr. Mukherjee also introduced oocyte retrieval, which was a transvaginal technique via colpotomy. The procedure was more direct from laparoscopy, which was used by British doctors. In Colpotomy, ovaries were accessed through a small incision in the vaginal wall.
His IVF techniques included incubating oocytes with processed semen. With the technique of cryopreservation, he successfully froze, thawed and implanted an eight-cell embryo, which, for the time, was a major medical breakthrough.
Dr. Subhas was way ahead of his time in Calcutta for using the particular technique because the next time someone used it, it was 5 years later, when another scientist across the world was able to replicate the procedure.
On October 19, 1978, Dr. Subhas submitted a report to the Director of Health Services, Government of West Bengal. In the report, he explained his ovarian stimulation protocol with human menopausal gonadotropin and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG).
However, Dr. Subhas did not receive the praise and recognition that he deserved for his achievement in reproductive medicine. His work faced professional and institutional opposition, and his claims were disputed. The lack of standard peer-reviewed scientific documentation at the time also contributed to the controversy surrounding his achievement.
In 1978, the local authorities set up an inquiry committee made up of scientists who knew nothing about fertility medicine. This panel completely rejected his detailed notes, calling his massive medical milestone impossible and fake.
Dr. Subhas also faced professional humiliation and doubt from the public of Calcutta; however, his work was briefly published in the Indian Journal of Cryogenics in 1979.
In 1980, he was transferred to R.G. Kar Medical College in Calcutta. The college was very far from his home. The very next year, he was assigned a seat at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology at Medical College, Calcutta.
The continuous relocations made it difficult for him to work on his research in reproductive medicine.
Dr. Subhas could not work through the pressure and was overwhelmed by his professional trajectory, humiliation and defamation. On July 19, 1981, he took his own life. He left behind a note that said: “I can’t wait every day for a heart attack to kill me.”
Almost a decade after the first IVF child in India was born, in 1986, Dr. T.C. Anand Kumar and Dr. Indira Hinduja announced the birth of India’s first scientifically documented IVF child, Harsha. She was born on August 6, 1986.
She was born at the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) Institute for Research in Reproduction in collaboration with KEM Hospital, Mumbai. The achievement was mentioned in the ICMR Bulletin and the Journal of In Vitro Fertilisation and Embryo Transfer.
Dr. Anand could not attend Dr. Subhas’s oration in 1983; however, he was very well versed in his work from the 1997 Memorial Lecture.
Dr. Anand acknowledged the fact that Durga was the first IVF baby of the country and also compiled Dr. Subhas’s work and contributions in a 1997 article titled “Architect of India’s First Test Tube Baby: Dr. Subhas Mukherjee.”
Due to Dr. Anand’s efforts, Dr. Subhas’s contribution in the field of reproductive medicine was recognized by ICMR in 2002.
After his death, Dr. Subhas was honoured for many of his past accomplishments and contributions. In 1982, an annual lecture series named Dr. Subhas Mukherjee Memorial Oration was started by the Indian Cryogenics Council.
In 1985, Behala Balananda Brahmachari Hospital and Jadavpur University teamed up to start Dr. Subhas Mukherjee Memorial Reproductive Biology Research Centre in Behala, Calcutta.
In 2007, he was featured in the Dictionary of Medical Biography alongside other recognized doctors of Calcutta. In the same year, the Brazilian Medical Society also recognized his contributions and sent mementos to the research centre in India.
In 2011, years after his death, he was given an honorary DSc degree by then Finance Minister Late Pranab Mukherjee. An award, “Dr. Subhas Mukherjee Award”, was created in his honour by the ICMR in 2012.
In 2013, the Indian Society for Assisted Reproduction and the Bengal Obstetrics and Gynecology Society hosted the first Dr. Subhas Mukherjee Memorial Lecture on the past, present, and future of ART.
In 2020, a book titled Dr. Subhas Mukherjee: A Visionary and Pioneer of IVF was published by the ICMR-National Institute of Research in Reproductive Health on its Golden Jubilee.
Dr. Subhas’s work was largely recognised after his death. The milestones that he could reach in the field of IVF and reproductive medicine were not celebrated in his lifetime.
(ARC/MSM)