| Air Marshal Amarjit Singh Chahal was born on 25 December 1929in Patiala, India. After receiving his Medical degree from GovernmentMedical College, Amritsar in 1951, he served as a house surgeon in theDepartment of Clinical Surgery for 1 year and then served as CasualtyMedical Officer and Demonstrator in Anatomy until 1953. InSeptember 1953, he was selected for permanent Commission in theIndian Army Medical Corps, was trained for surgery and obtained hisMasters in Surgery degree from Punjab University in 1965.He was posted as Second-in-Command and Chief Surgeon at theArtificial Limb Centre, Pune from 1966 to 1970. In 1969, he wasselected for training in spinal surgery as a Colombo Plan Fellow. Heworked as a Senior Fellow at the Royal Perth Hospital and AustinHospital in Australia. He passed the Fellowship Exams of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons of Australia in 1970. On completion of hisFellowship, he was posted to the Military Hospital, Khadki, Pune in1971, where he was charged with the development of the first SpinalCord Injury Centre for the Armed Forces. During this time, hepioneered the development of a Paraplegic Home in 1974—the first ofits kind in India. In 1978, he was appointed as Professor of Orthopedics at the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. Heestablished the Department of Orthopedics during his tenure there,and was the first Head of Department.In 1983, as a Brigadier, he became a Consultant in Orthopedics atBase Hospital, Delhi Cantonment, and, in 1985, he became the DeputyDirector of Medical Services 33 Corps HQ in North Bengal. He waspromoted to the rank of Major General and took over as the Directorof Medical Services, Northern Command of the Indian Army inJanuary 1986, and for Southern Command in October 1986.He participated in different wars.On the basis of an extensive experience and knowledge, he wasrecognized around the world as an expert in the treatment oftuberculosis of the spine.In 1988, he was promoted to the rank of Air Marshal and appointedas the Director General of Air Force Medical Services. On hisretirement, he joined and helped establish the first civilian SpinalInjury Centre at Vasant Kunj in New Delhi. He was the first DirectorGeneral of the hospital and in 1995 became a member of the Board ofDirectors of the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre. He trained severalyoung orthopedic surgeons in the field of Spinal Surgery andRehabilitation. He organized the Annual Meeting of InternationalSpinal Cord Society (ISCoS, formerly IMSoP) Conference as theOrganizing Secretary in September 1995 at Delhi. He was a member ofthe ISCoS committee from 1980 to 1988 and served as the VicePresident of the Society for 3 years and as an Editor for the Journal forthe next 10 years. He published numerous scientific papers in peerreviewedjournals. He spoke extensively on paraplegia, non-union offractures and tuberculosis of the spine in USA, England, Australia,Japan, Korea, Indonesia, India and many other nations.He was an active sportsman and held college colors in field hockeyin 1949–1950. Later, he played tennis and was an avid golfer.He was honored by the nation with the Vishisht Seva Medal and theAti Vishisht Seva Medal, two of the highest levels of honors. He wasgiven a Lifetime Achievement Award by his alma mater—AmritsarMedical College. He was appointed Physician to the Presidentof India.Air Marshal Amarjit Singh Chahal lived in Chandigarh from 2007and was a visiting Senior Orthopedics Consultant at Silver OaksHospital, Chandigarh. He passed away after a brief illness on 21 June2015. He is greatly missed by his wife, daughter, two sons and sevengrandchildren. He is also missed by his students, patients, colleaguesand admirers. The ISCoS Society will never forget him as one of themost important spinal cord specialists of his time and a much valuedmember of the group. |
