Dr D R Doongaji’s clinical proficiency will be remembered forever

Dr Doongaji’s papers have been published in reputed journals nationally and internationally. He would always inculcate in his students, a love for psychiatry as a clinical science rather than a theoretical one.

Dr D R Doongaji was one of the finest clinicians that worked as an honorary professor of psychiatry at KEM Hospital and Seth GS Medical College. He worked in an era where there was no neuroimaging and always looked at psychiatry as a clinical science where symptoms and their interpretations were paramount in making a diagnosis.

Dr Dinshaw R Doongaji died on

He was an astute clinician and researcher, who published research papers on diverse topics in an era where there was no computer-based or internet assistance. His papers have been published in reputed journals nationally and internationally. He would always inculcate in his students, a love for psychiatry as a clinical science rather than a theoretical one.

I had the pleasure and honour of knowing late professor Dr D R Doongaji through his meetings with my father, late professor Dr Alan De Sousa. I had met him first when I was a student in class 8 and was in awe ever since as he was my Dad’s teacher. He spoke to me softly, praised me and hugged me warmly such that the first meeting left an indelible impression on my mind and I would often look for opportunities to meet him when possible.

I met Sir many times in conferences and after becoming a psychiatrist, he would always be generous in his praise and criticism of lectures that he would attend. He would offer suggestions for improvement in such a manner that the message would be conveyed with humour and wit and would never make the speaker feel offended or hurt. He would always be smiling and ever happy to meet young psychiatrists and discuss with them the finer nuances of psychiatry.

I remember visiting his clinic to hand over an invitation for some meeting, when he introduced me to his love as a food connoisseur. He was eating a sandwich and offered me the same, and we had a conversation that went from the choicest baked food to cheese and some restaurants in Mumbai that would offer food one could never say no to. He introduced me to the best food joints in South Mumbai and I, in fact, visited many of them on his insistence and persistence that evening.

My most precious possession of Dr. Doongaji Sir was a textbook of psychiatry that he gifted my late mother, professor Dr Dhanalakshmi De Sousa when she was a student in 1968-69 at KEM Hospital. The book gifted by him and signed by him still adorns my bookstand in my library. Sir always lived life to its best and fullest and was always full of zest and happiness whenever he spoke to anyone irrespective of their age or stature.

Men like Prof Dr D R Doongaji (Sir) are crafted as a single rare edition jewel that shall never be found again and his presence will be missed by all those whose lives he touched including mine.

His knowledge, wit and humour along with his clinical proficiency will be remembered forever by anyone who learnt from him.

(Dr Avinash De Sousa, past president of Bombay Psychiatric Society, Consultant Psychiatrist and Founder Trustee Desousa Foundation, Mumbai)