The last rites of Dr Ashok Kumar Mahapatra, noted neurosurgeon and founding director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, will be performed at Swarga Dwar in Puri on Wednesday, family sources said. His mortal remains reached Bhubaneswar on Tuesday night after he died in New Delhi while undergoing treatment.
Residents of his native village, Biranarasinghapur in Puri district, gathered to remember Dr Mahapatra’s work as a doctor and public figure. Local residents said he had helped villagers in several ways from the time he entered the medical profession until he fell ill in the last week of September.
Dr Mahapatra was suffering from glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. He was shifted to AIIMS New Delhi on October 2 and died on Monday during treatment, according to the report. He was survived by his wife, Suprabha Panigrahi, and daughter, Subhashree Mahapatra, a research scientist in microbiology in Germany.
He was widely known for leading the surgery to separate conjoined twins Jaga and Balia at AIIMS New Delhi in 2017. The twins’ mother, Pushpanjali Kanhar, said her family would remain indebted to Dr Mahapatra for carrying out the rare and prolonged procedure. She said he named the children and took steps to support their survival after the separation. Balia died on November 25, 2020.
Dr Mahapatra also served as head of the neurosurgery department at AIIMS New Delhi and as director of Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, from 2006 to 2009. He was the director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar from 2012 to 2016 before returning to AIIMS New Delhi.
His role at AIIMS Bhubaneswar connected him directly with the development of one of Odisha’s major public medical institutions. Staff members, doctors and officials of the institute paid tribute to him and organised a condolence meeting on the campus on Tuesday. SOA deemed to be university, where he had served as vice-chancellor, also held a tribute for him.
Dr Mahapatra was the working president of the Bhakta Dasia Memorial Trust. Members of the organisation and residents of nearby villages are expected to pay tribute to him on the way to Puri. A retired philosophy faculty member and local resident, Ghanashyam Swain, said Dr Mahapatra had guided students, helped people pursue quality education and assisted patients in accessing treatment at AIIMS New Delhi, AIIMS Bhubaneswar and other reputed hospitals.
Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik, former Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, chief secretary Anu Garg and other dignitaries condoled Dr Mahapatra’s death. His last rites are scheduled to take place at Swarga Dwar in Puri on Wednesday.
