Date:27/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/27/stories/2008122754970500.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Prof. CRS passes away

Special Correspondent

Cheyyar Ramaswamy Sundararajan

CHENNAI: Cheyyar Ramaswamy Sundararajan, better known as Prof. CRS to his students and admirers died in the early hours of Friday. He was 82. He is survived by son, Sridhar, an endocrinologist attached to MIOT Hospital and daughter Jayanthi Natarajan, Rajya Sabha MP.

Dr. Sundararajan was the first plastic surgeon of south India. He studied at Madras Medical College (MMC) from which he graduated in 1953 and pursued his MCh degree at Nagpur Medical College. After returning to Madras, he joined the MMC and the government permitted him to head the plastic surgery department with 10 beds and one assistant in 1963.

He started the MCh Plastic Surgery course in 1965. Under his leadership, the department expanded and the bed strength was increased to 28. A separate burns ward was established and the PG seat for MCh was increased to three in 1976. Before he retired in 1984, he ensured that the department had 48 beds.

Dr. Sundararajan’s students recall him as a strict disciplinarian. He was “a teacher of teachers” said G. Balakrishnan, a senior student who later headed the Department of Plastic Surgery at Government Stanley Medical College.

He was also a forerunner in the formation of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India and started the Madras Chapter of Burns Association of India. He was the recipient of B.C. Roy award of the Medical Council of India and was the fellow of MMC.