December 19 is observed as Universal Health Coverage Day, a reminder that healthcare should be affordable, accessible, and available to everyone—irrespective of geography or income. In that context, here are two inspiring stories of Indian scientists whose path-breaking work saved millions of lives using simple, affordable solutions.
1. Discovery of Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS)
When we think of drug discovery, we often picture researchers in lab coats working in well equipped laboratories.But the story about discovery of ORS is quite different! It happened in a refugee camp in Bangaon, a city in West Bengal.
During the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis was volunteering in a refugee camp that was hit by a devastating cholera outbreak. Cholera is a disease that results in severe dehydration leading to death of thousands of people- especially infants and young children. The standard treatment at the time was intravenous fluid therapy—but resources were scarce, and IV fluids soon ran out. So Dr Mahalanabis seeked the help of a simple yet powerful recipe- salt + sugar+ water.
The advantages?
- Extremely cheap
- Easy to prepare
- Made from readily available ingredients
- Did not require special equipment or trained personnel
- Could be given orally, even outside hospital settings
The outcome?
- Within weeks, the mortality rate dropped from nearly 30% to just 4%.
- In 1978, WHO and unicef declared ORS “The greatest medical breakthrough of 20th century”
Today, ORS has saved millions of lives worldwide and remains a cornerstone of diarrheal disease management—especially in low-resource settings.
2. Discovery of Prazosin for Scorpion bite.
In 1976, after completing his MBBS, Dr. Himmatrao Bawaskar was working at a government-funded Primary Health Centre in the Raigad district of Maharashtra. During this time, he came across multiple cases of scorpion stings, which were surprisingly common and often fatal in that area. At that time, there were no effective treatment strategies, and to make it worse there existed numerous superstitions! After completing his MD in Medicine, Dr. Bawaskar returned to the Konkan region along with his wife, only to find the same tragic outcomes continuing. After careful clinical observations, he found -
- Primary cause of death? pulmonary edema (fluid filled lung)
- Symptoms? similar to excessive catecholamine (adrenaline and noradrenaline) effects.
This insight led him to try prazosin, an alpha-adrenergic blocker already in use for conditions involving catecholamine excess.In 1984, Dr. Bawaskar treated 126 patients with scorpion stings using prazosin—and all survived! His paper on this treatment was published in The Lancet in 1986, gaining international recognition and transformed the management of scorpion sting envenomation worldwide.
Today, prazosin remains a simple, inexpensive, and life-saving treatment—particularly in rural India.
They remind us that transformative healthcare does not always require expensive technology—sometimes, it requires empathy, perseverance, and a deep commitment to patients.
Do you know of any other such discoveries that changed lives through simplicity and accessibility? comment below!
MBH/PS