Dilip Mahalanabis, MD. is the Director of the Society for Applied Studies, a non-
governmental research organization, in Kolkata, India.
Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis started his work on oral rehydration therapy in 1966 as a research investigator for Johns Hopkins University International Center for Medical Research and Training in Calcutta. During the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, Dr. Mahalanabis used the ORT in the refugee camps which accommodated 350,000 refugees, in West Bengal,
Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis instructed his staff to distribute the ORT for the treatment of over 3,000 patients. With the ORT, the death rate dropped to only 3% in comparison with 20 30% using only intravenous fluid therapy. This was the first large scale use of oral rehydration solution in a disaster situation. As a result, it gained the International health Organizations recognition and its application was spread worldwide.
The research works conducted by Dr. David R. Nalin, Dr. Richard A. Cash, and Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis have sequentially contributed to the application of the oral rehydration solution in the treatment of severe diarrhea worldwide, including Thailand. It is estimated that each year around 500 million packs of the oral rehydration solution are used in more than 60 developing countries, saving millions of lives around the world.