Amar Prasad Ray was born on 26 February 1913 in Kolkata into a zamindar family with roots in Hooghly district, West Bengal. He studied at the Raja Ram Mohan Roy Seminary in Patna and took his intermediate science at Patna Science College before graduating MBBS with distinction from the Prince of Wales Medical College under Patna University. He later earned a PhD in Medicine in 1957 for experimental work on malaria-induced cirrhosis in monkeys.

After specialised training at the Malaria Institute of India in 1945, he joined the institute and rose to Deputy Director. In 1959 he was appointed Director of the National Malaria Eradication Programme. Under his leadership the programme mounted a nationwide offensive using systematic DDT spraying, fortnightly blood-smear surveillance and radical treatment. By the mid-1960s malaria had been brought under control across roughly three-quarters of the country. He wrote the practical “Administrative and Technical Guidelines” that became known as the Blue Book for field workers, and his research on drug resistance and the synergistic use of antimalarials shaped India’s national drug policy.

Ray later served the World Health Organization as Dean and Director of the International Malaria Training Centre in Manila, Senior Malaria Adviser for the Western Pacific Region, and in research posts in Australia. He returned to coordinate India’s Plasmodium falciparum Containment Programme and remained for thirty-two years the longest-serving member of the WHO Expert Committee on Malaria.

Colleagues remembered a quietly determined leader who insisted that credit belonged to the field teams. When Health Minister Sushila Nayar wished to recommend him for a national honour, he asked that his juniors be considered first. One younger officer later recalled Ray saying during a tour of remote spraying operations:

“The mosquito does not respect rank or office. Victory comes only when every worker in the farthest village does his part with the same care.”

In 1967 the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri. In 1974 the World Health Organization conferred the Darling Foundation Prize. He died on 24 September 1996.

In the story of Indian doctors, Amar Prasad Ray stands as a central figure in one of the country’s great public-health victories — the physician-scientist who turned laboratory insight and disciplined organisation into freedom from malaria for millions.