Pares Chandra Datta

Pares Chandra Datta () was a physician and civil servant. He specialised in surgery.
Background and education
He was born in Silchar in the district of Cachar in Assam. His family owned substantial tracts of land in Lakhai, a village in Sylhet in pre-Independence India, which became an upazila in present-day Bangladesh, for several centuries. His father, Mahesh Chandra Datta, was a Senior Government Pleader who shifted to Silchar in the latter half of the ninettenth century, and eventually moved into Vakilpatty, a locality in Silchar. His elder brother was also a Senior Government Pleader. His younger brother, Biren Datta, became the Accountant General of Bombay. His brother-in-law, Arun Chanda, was the M.P. from Silchar and Minister of State (with Independent Charge) of External Affairs of the Government of India, and his sister, Jyotsna Chanda was later an M.P. from Silchar. After studying in the Government High School, Silchar, he joined Presidency College, Calcutta. Later he joined Calcutta Medical College, ranking first class second in the University of Calcutta, before proceeding to England for higher studies.
Career
He became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS), London and in 1916 a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS), London. He was also a Member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP), London. In 1917 he was appointed as House Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary in Oldham. Later in the same year he was appointed as the Second House Surgeon. He joined the Royal Infirmary in 1918 and was appointed as an Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy at University College, London for three months. He became FRCS, Edinburgh in 1920. After the completion of his studies, he was commissioned in the Indian Medical Service as a Captain. After returning to India following a long gap, he went as the Surgeon to His Britannic Majesty's Consul General in Meshed (now Meshad) in Persia. Later he was also a Honourary Surgeon (Eye, Ear and Throat) at the Campbell Medical Hospital, Calcutta.
He joined the Eastern Bengal Railways (EBR), in 1925 and was appointed as District Medical Officer of Kanchrapara in Bengal. In 1930 he travelled to Edinburgh on a 13-month study leave, where he completed his Diploma in Public Health (DPH). After returning to the same post in Kanchrapara, he was transferred to Calcutta and appointed to the newly created post of District Medical Officer, Sealdah in 1933. The EBR authorities had decided to build their own self-contained hospital for the treatment of their officers and staff. On January 1, 1942 he was appointed as the First-Chief Medical Officer of the newly constituted Bengal Assam Railway and was given the responsibility of running the new B.R. Singh Memorial Hospital in Sealdah. As a member of the newly constituted Bengal Assam Railway, he, like all other officers and staff of the railways, was embodied in the Defence of India Corps which came under army rules and regulations.
He retired from the railways on 14 August 1947. After retirement, in 1948 he joined the West Bengal Government's Health Directorate as Deputy Director (Supervision). He finally retired in 1953 after holding various posts including the Director of Health Services.

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