Pulakkat Krishna Raghava Warrier

FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional certification, professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an wikt:intercollegiate, ...

(13 August 1921 – 26 March 2011) was an Indian Cardiothoracic surgeon,

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

social activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

from

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

Early life

P. K. R. Warrier was born on 13 August 1921 to ''

Rao Bahadur Rai Bahadur (in North India) and Rao Bahadur (in South India), R.B., was a title of honour bestowed during British Raj, British rule in India to individuals for outstanding service or acts of public welfare to the British Empire, Empire. From ...

'' Dr. Pulakkat Krishna Warrier and Sreedevi Krishna Warrier in Nellaya, a small village in the

Malabar District Malabar District, also known as British Malabar or simply Malabar was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792–1800), Madras Presidency (1800–1950) and finally, Madras State (1950–1956) in ...

of the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(present-day Palakkad district, Kerala). He was the youngest son in his family. He enrolled for medical studies at Madras Medical College during the early 1940s. As a student, he was actively involved in India's freedom struggle. It was during one of the freedom rallies in his student days that he met his future wife, Devaki Pallam, then an apprentice of

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

Career

After completing the undergraduate education at Madras Medical College in June 1946, Warrier worked as a demonstrator of

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

between July 1947 and December 1948. He remained in Madras (now

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

) training as an unofficial house surgeon and senior house surgeon under Dr. Mohan Rao and Dr. C. P. V. Menon at the

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...

between January 1949 and June 1950. Between June 1950 and August 1959, he worked as a Civil Assistant Surgeon in various government hospitals throughout South India including

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

Cochin Kochi ( , ), formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernaku ...

and

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the largest and ...

as well as a brief stint in

Minicoy Island Minicoy, locally known as Maliku (), is an island in Lakshadweep, India. Along with Viringili, it is on Maliku atoll, the southernmost atoll of Lakshadweep archipelago. Administratively, it is a census town in the Indian union territory of Laks ...

. Warrier then moved to London to attain his

Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Roya ...

. After receiving the Fellowship in January 1960, he went on to receive training in cardiothoracic surgery in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

and

Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham is a major, 1,215 bed, tertiary NHS and military hospital in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, situated very close to the University of Birmingham. The hospital, which cost £545 million to construc ...

until 1962. On returning to India, he joined as an assistant professor to Professor Raghavachari in the Department of Surgery at Trivandrum Medical College 1964. In 1964, Warrer established the Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery at the Medical College. He held the position of professor and head of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery when he retired in 1977. After formal retirement, he continued to work. He was Professor of Surgery at

Kasturba Medical College Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and Kasturba Medical College, Mangaluru, together known as KMC, are two private medical colleges in the state of Karnataka, India, established in 1953 and 1955. The colleges are constituent units of Manipal A ...

, Manipal until 1983, Chief of Surgery at AKG Memorial Hospital,

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the maj ...

until 1986, Surgical Consultant at Aswini Hospital,

Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...

and Semalk Hospital, Ottappalam. In 1990, Warrier retired from all professional work, though he continues to be a prominent presence in the field.

Social activism

Warrier maintained a close association with

E. M. S. Namboodiripad Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad (13 June 1909 – 19 March 1998), popularly known as E.M.S. Namboodiripad or simply by his initials E. M. S., was an Indian communist politician and theorist, who served as the first Chief Minister of ...

and other prominent

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

leaders of

. He was sympathetic to the early communist movement of

, and was opposed to government-employed doctors performing in private practise. Warrier remained a renowned figure in these circles.

Personal life

Warrier married Devika Pallam, whom he met during the freedom rallies in his student days. His daughter Anasuya Warrier is married to director Shaji N. Karun.

Books

Warrier has published his autobiography in both

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

and English. The Malayalam version first appeared as a weekly series in ''

Deshabhimani ''Deshabhimani'' is a Malayalam newspaper and the organ of the Kerala State Committee of the CPI(M). It started as a weekly in Kozhikode on 6 September 1942 and converted to a daily in 1946. The paper now has ten different printing centres: Ko ...

Weekly''. An expanded and rewritten English version of the book titled ''Experience and Perceptions'' was later released in 2004.

Awards received

* Abu Dhabi Sakthi-T. K. Ramakrishnan Award (2007) * Lifetime Achievement Award instituted by the Heart Care Foundation, a charitable society. * Dubai Art Lovers' Association Award, for his selfless contribution in the field of medicine and surgery. * Lifetime achievement award of the Dr. K.P. Nair Foundation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warrier, P. K. R. 1921 births 2011 deaths Indian medical educators Medical doctors from Kerala Madras Medical College alumni Indian autobiographers Malayalam-language writers Activists from Kerala 20th-century Indian surgeons Recipients of the Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award