RIP Dr E P Fritschi

Leprosy Mailing List – October 27^th, 2011 

Ref.:   RIP Dr E P Fritschi

From: H Srinivasan, Chennai, South India

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 To all,

I am really sad to hear of the passing away of Dr Ernest Fritschi, a good friend of mine.

I have known him from his medical student days at Madras Medical College, where he was two years senior to me.  I came to know him, to some extent, in 1949 when I was in my third year (1st year in clinical medicine) and he was in his final year, when we were posted in the same medical unit for three months.  Even then one was struck by his cheerful personality and ready with combined at the same time a compassionate approach to patients and their problems.  It was not at all surprising for us to learn subsequently that he had taken to leprosy surgery as his life mission.

I later came to be in frequent contact with him, since 1962, as our professional interests coincided from then on till we retired.  The Schieffelin Leprosy Research & Training Centre, (SLRTC), at Karigiri is the glowing monument to his memory and is the concrete expression of his creativity and all round personality.  Luckily for the leprosy world, he was the right person at the right time in the right place when that institution was started in the 1950s and he made barren rocks bloom and put out beautiful flowers.

For nearly two decades his book on corrective surgery in leprosy was the sole guide and inspiration to people who aspired to learn and practice this super specialty.  While he was guided in his ideas, especially in the early days, by Dr Paul Brand, Ernest was not a blind follower of his Guru; he could stand on his own and argue differently, a not very easy feat for those who have experienced the authoritative and at the same time highly persuasive eloquence of Dr Brand.

Dr Ernest Fritschi was a simple, cheerful, humane and lovable soul with no pompous pretensions and I am proud to have known him. Long live his memory!

Dr H Srinivasan

Leprosy Reconstructive Surgeon (Retired)
25, First Seaward Road Chennai

600 041 South India