Noted physician Subrata Moitra passes away

Dr Subrata Moitra, a well known physician died prematurely in a city nursing home on Thursday.

He has been suffering from cancer for quite some time. He is survived by his father Kashikanta Moitra, a nonagenarian Congress leader who was a minister in Siddhartha Shankar Roy’s cabinet, wife and children. In her condolence message, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called him a friend who had ‘high professional skill and a large heart’. She said Moitra had helped the state Health department by giving proper advice in various schemes launched by the state government in the past four and a half years. His untimely death will leave a void in the medical circle of the state, Banerjee commented.

Moitra and a private nursing home had virtually become synonymous. He was there in the nursing home talking to the relatives of the patients. He had treated Suchitra Sen and a host of VIPs who had been admitted to the hospital. His sense of responsibility was phenomenal. When he found that he had been suffering from a dreadful disease, instead of taking off from work, he continued serving his patients. Swami Vivekananda’s words, ‘work till death’ had always inspired him particularly during the days when he was suffering from the ‘Emperor of all Diseases.’

He was intimately involved in social service and took teams of doctors to treat the people in Sunderbans. He used to organise health check-up camps where well known doctors of the city were present to check the health of people who could not travel to the city for medical treatment. Moitra was intimately associated with the Ramakrishna Movement. He was close to many senior monks of the Ramakrishna order including Swami Prabhananda, one of the vice presidents of the order. He went to the villages to propagate the message of Swami Vivekananda. Despite ill health, he attended the small gathering which was present at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Gol Park on February 15, 2014 to felicitate Selenda Margot Giardin, grandniece of Sister Nivedita. He welcomed her to the city and told her in brief the contribution of Sister Nivedita in the Ramakrishna Movement. Moitra was preparing to organise the sesquicentennial birth anniversary of Sister Nivedeita which falls in 2017. He always dreamt of a world where people would live peacefully and happily.