Seeking Respect for Scientists, Minister Pays Tribute to IVF Pioneer

New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS) There is a need for society to respect doctors, researchers and scientists, so that they can transfer their knowledge across the world without the barriers that they usually face, Union minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday.

In making his point, Harsh Vardhan, who is science and technology minister, paid tribute to Subhash Mukhopadhyay, the mastermind of the first in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) baby of India in 1978.

Mukhopadhyay's achievements as a physician and death by suicide had inspired the Hindi movie 'Ek Doctor Ki Maut,' directed by Tapan Sinha.

"Today, I feel sad that one doctor from Kolkata, Subhash Mukopadhyay, who brought out the first IVF baby of India in 1978, was humiliated by the then central and state governments. They put so many restrictions on him that he was compelled to take own life," Harsh Vardhan said at the 25th anniversary of IVF centre at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here.

He told the doctors present on the occasion to come out of their comfort zone and share more information among themselves.

"People consider doctors as a god, but I feel that doctors performing IVF are closer to god than other medical practitioners, just because they make impossible possible."