Govt Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, director-principal BS Chavan passes away at 59

Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, director-principal BS Chavan passed away on Friday morning. He was 59.

Dr Chavan, a noted psychiatrist, was diagnosed with advanced stage of cancer of the large intestine in 2019 and was undergoing treatment at GMCH-32.

“He was on ventilator since last Saturday. His oxygen saturation levels dipped around 2am and despite our best efforts, he passed away peacefully at 2.30am,” the hospital spokesman, Anil Moudgil, said.

The last rites were conducted at the cremation ground at Sector 25, where senior officials of the Chandigarh Administration, doctors from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) and the Union Territory health department and GMCH, Sector 32, paid their tributes to Dr Chavan .

LED FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19 FROM THE FRONT

PGIMER director Dr Jagat Ram said, “Despite his health problems, Dr Chavan led the battle against Covid-19 from the front.”

Dr Chavan also headed the Government Rehabilitation Institute for Intellectual Disability (GRIID), Sector 31, and Mental Health Institute, Sector 32. He was also serving as head of the psychiatry department for the past 24 years.

Before joining GMCH in 1996, Dr Chavan worked at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, as senior faculty for eight years.

He studied MD, psychiatry, from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, in 1987 and later received the World Health Organisation Fellowship in community psychiatry from Australia in 1998.