Dr Eustace de Souza ! My best teacher in MBBS. His chuckle , winsome smile and his love for us…..infinite

Remembering Dr Eustace de Souza
Dr Eustace J de Souza was a distinguished professor of Anatomy, HOD, and the Dean of T N Medical College and B Y L Nair Charitable Hospital.
He was a surgeon by training. However, the Rockefeller Scholarship to the famous Johns Hopkins University in the USA changed the direction of his expertise. He did a fellowship in the emerging science of histocytochemistry under the pioneering stewardship of Dr Arnold Seligman. From surgeon, he became an anatomist.
He was also an artist, electrician, plumber, carpenter, handyman, repairer of all things broken, and photographer in addition to being the owner of an 8mm movie projector. He was much in demand for children’s birthday parties back then, where he screened his collection of Laurel and Hardy films much to their delight.
In his office in TNMC, he had a picture of a Rembrandt painting titled, “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp”. All the first MBBS students were routinely asked, “What do you think is wrong with this picture?” No one could answer this question. The answer was, “If you look closely the muscles of the flexor compartment seem to arise from the outer side (lateral epicondyle) of the hand. When they should originate from the inner side (medial epicondyle).” Rembrandt, one of the great masters, got this detail wrong in an otherwise dramatic painting. Dr Eustace reminded students that this painting demonstrated that they had to be observant if they wanted to be good doctors.
Dr Eustace de Souza retired from Nair Hospital in 1979 and served on many important institutions after that. He was invited to serve as a Geneticist and Ethics expert on many national and international boards.
He passed away at the age of 94. Among his prized possessions was a reprint of the Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicholaes Tulp that was presented to him by his students at the TNMC. Below the painting was inscribed, “Your courageous example to know what is wrong and to stand up to it taught us more than any lesson that could be given by Dr Tulp or anyone else.” There were a lot of signatures by students on that paper and below that was the date, March 1977.

(Penned by Dr Chris de Souza, Dr Eustace’s son. He is a well-known ENT surgeon and author of many books)