Dr. Viswanathan Shanta’s contribution to cancer treatment in India has no parallel
Thousands of cancer patients are alive today because more than 60 years ago, a frail lady believed it was possible.
Dr. Viswanathan Shanta with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
When the history of healthcare in India is written there will be a special chapter dedicated to the life of Dr. Viswanathan Shanta. The pioneering Oncologist and Chairperson of the Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai, passed away on the 19
th of January at the age of 93. Over the last 7 decades few have done as much to make Cancer care accessible and affordable to all as the diminutive Doctor from Chennai.
Dr. V Shanta: Tributes pour in for celebrated oncologist of Adyar Cancer Institute
Dr. Viswanathan Shanta, who passed away on January 19, was Chennai’s best-known oncologist.
Dr. Viswanathan Shanta
The medical community in Chennai came together on January 19 to pay its last tributes to the city’s best-known oncologist Dr. V Shanta of the Adyar Cancer Institute.
The doctor was admitted to Apollo Hospitals on January 18 night after she complained of discomfort. She passed away at 3.55 am on January 19 after attempts to remove a block from a blood vessel failed. She was 93.
Dr. C S Mani, a fellow oncologist, called Shanta a “visionary” who devised “many protocols in cancer treatment much ahead of the West”. He said he had graduated under Shanta at the institute, where she worked along with Dr. Krishnamurthy. “My gratitude for her work and my grief cannot be translated into words,” Dr. Mani said when contacted.