Dr. Saroj Gupta (5 December 1929 – 21 May 2010) was a pioneering Indian radiation oncologist who founded one of eastern India’s most important centres for affordable cancer care. He is remembered for turning a small welfare home into a full-fledged modern cancer hospital that prioritised treatment for the underprivileged.

Born in a middle-class Bengali family in northern Calcutta (now Kolkata) to Satya Charan Gupta and Patit Paboni Devi, he completed his MBBS from the University of Calcutta in 1955. He joined Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital as a Consultant Radiotherapist in 1956. Determined to specialise further, he obtained a Diploma in Medical Radiology and Electrology (DMRE) from Calcutta University in 1961, then travelled to the United Kingdom. There he earned additional diplomas and, in 1965, became a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists (FRCR).

On returning to India he continued work at Chittaranjan and also joined Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan. What troubled him most was seeing poor patients from distant villages turned away because hospital beds were scarce.

“Cancer does not choose only those who can afford treatment,” he often said. “If we do not build a place where the poorest can also receive care with dignity, we have failed as doctors.”

In 1973, with the support of philanthropists, doctors, social workers and even schoolchildren who raised funds, he established the Cancer Centre Welfare Home and Research Institute on a 16-acre plot in Thakurpukur, Kolkata. It began with just 25 beds. Gupta himself acted in a fundraising drama, playing the role of a cancer patient to generate public support. Over the following decades the institution grew into a 250-plus-bed comprehensive centre with surgical oncology, radiotherapy, medical oncology, paediatric cancer wards, intensive care and diagnostic facilities. It was later renamed the Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre and Research Institute in his honour. The hospital’s guiding principle remained the same: no patient should be refused treatment for lack of money.

He took voluntary retirement from Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital in 1980 to devote himself fully to the Thakurpukur centre. He also served as Professor and Head of Radiation Oncology at Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences.

In recognition of his work the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 1987. In 1989 he was appointed Sheriff of Kolkata. He received the Rabindra Puraskar from Visva-Bharati University as well.

Gupta was married to Ila Gupta; the couple had three children, including Dr. Arnab Gupta, who later continued the work at the institute. Beyond medicine he composed music, directed films, played tennis and wrote short stories and dramas.

Dr. Saroj Gupta passed away in Kolkata on 21 May 2010 at the age of 80. The institution he founded continues to treat thousands of cancer patients every year, many of them from economically weaker sections, keeping alive his vision that quality oncology care must be accessible to all.