Dr GM Taori—neurologist, teacher, researcher, public health activist and philanthropist—died today at 4 am in the CIIMS hospital, Nagpur—the very hospital he had conceived, designed and ran for over three decades. He was 83.
Dr G M Taori, known for introducing neurology as a branch of medicine to Central India in 1984, is credited with many firsts. Coming from a farming family, he rose to become the first neurologist of Nagpur and region with an FRCP from Canada in 1966. This was an unparalleled achievement at the time. His biggest achievement to follow- years later he established the Central India Institute of Medical Sciences (CIIMS) as the first ever hospital and research institute in Nagpur.
Born 1st June 1932 in Paradsinga village near Saunsar (MP) in the family of a freedom fighter and Gandhi follower, Dr Taori was schooled in Swawlambi Vidyalaya and Navbharat Vidyalaya Wardha. He inherited his principles and values from his father.
While doing PG in medicine from Government Medical College and Hospital Nagpur he discovered his calling— neurology. In an era remarkably free of CT scans and MRI machines, diagnosing neurological disorders was a challenging task. And As one, who always loved to take up new challenges, he decided to train in neurology at CMC, Vellore (1962 to 1973). He also spent four years in Montreal from 1964 to 1966.
In early seventies, he lost his eldest brother, prematurely and suddenly and had to come back to Nagpur. He tried for a full-time teaching job in GMCH, Indira Gandhi Government Medical College, mission hospitals and the then Nagpur Nagarik Sahakari Rugnalaya but no one was ready to take up the development of neurology. A visiting professor at MGIMS from 1973-76, he decided to start his own neurology institute in 1973 and succeeded in launching CIIMS in 1984.
He started Gopalkrishna Taori Charitable Trust in his brother’s name, organised religious programmes to generate funds and developed a state-of-the-art 125-bed neurological institute and a research lab. He made sure that all earnings of the hospital go back into the development of the hospital.
Dr GM Taori has left behind his wife, son (Pranay, MGIMS alumnus 1986 batch and an oncologist), and daughter (Preeti, MGIMS alumnus, 1988 batch and an administrator at CIIMS).
As one who had the privilege of learning bedside neurology from Taori sir, I am acutely conscious that his void cannot be filled. I haven’t seen a doctor as simple, as honest, as ethical, as disciplinarian, as outspoken, and as practising principle- based medicine as Dr Taori.
Although he was ailing for some time— he had undergone a CABG decade ago and chose to spend the last four months of his life in his hospital fighting a severe congestive heart failure and undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis— he considered teaching and research as his highest priority. His love for research is legendary— on June 7, 2015, from his hospital bed, he gave a detailed interview to the Times of India lamenting at the lack of ethics in healthcare and deterioration in research and teaching standards in the medical schools.
May his soul rest in eternal peace.