The Grandfather of Indian Neurology: The Story of Prof. Baldev Singh

On 6 April 1904, in what is now Pakistan, a boy named Baldev Singh was born. He studied medicine at King Edward Medical College in Lahore and graduated with distinction in 1927, collecting medals along the way. For nearly two decades he practised as a successful general physician and cardiologist in Amritsar, building a private practice that was both busy and lucrative. Yet something in him remained restless.

In his mid-forties he decided to specialise in the still-young field of neurology. In 1950–51 he travelled to Chicago to train in electroencephalography (EEG) under the pioneering Frederic Gibbs. Returning to India, he joined Prof. Jacob Chandy at Christian Medical College, Vellore. Together with Chandy, B. Ramamurthi and S. T. Narasimhan, he helped lay the foundations of clinical neurology and epilepsy surgery in the country and was among the founders of the Neurological Society of India in 1951.

He later moved to Delhi, heading the neurological department at Tirath Ram Shah Hospital and teaching at Lady Hardinge Medical College and Willingdon Hospital. In 1965, already past normal retirement age, he was specially invited by the Union Health Minister to establish the Department of Neurology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. For three energetic years he built the department, started India’s first DM programme in neurology, and worked side by side with neurosurgery. After formal retirement he continued as Emeritus Professor of Neurophysiology at AIIMS, collaborating on research into consciousness, sleep and high-altitude physiology well into his eighties.

Colleagues and students affectionately called him “Grandfather Neuron” or “Papa Neuron.” He was elected President of the Neurological Society of India twice (1962 and 1971), received the Basanti Devi Amirchand Award, became a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Medical Sciences, and was granted the honorary rank of Brigadier by the Indian Army. In 1972 the Government of India conferred upon him the Padma Bhushan for his contributions to medicine.

Prof. Baldev Singh lived simply, worked tirelessly, and mentored generations of neurologists with quiet generosity. He passed away on 2 February 1998 at the age of ninety-three. Today the Neurosciences Centre at AIIMS and the many physicians he trained stand as living tributes to the man who, late in life, helped give Indian neurology its modern shape and spirit.