Varanasi’s medical fraternity is jubilant as BHU Professor Shyam Sundar Agarwal receives the Padma Shri for his transformative contributions to Kala-Azar treatment. One of two BHU luminaries honored this Republic Day eve, Agarwal’s journey from Bihar’s disease-ravaged fields to global acclaim is nothing short of inspirational.
In Muzaffarpur, where Kala-Azar claimed thousands yearly in the 1980s, patients faced grim realities: delayed diagnoses costing 400-500 rupees and drugs that healed just 35% while killing 12-15%. Agarwal, driven by this crisis, invented the RK-39 diagnostic strip—the world’s first rapid 10-minute test, ending weeks of agony.
Challenging failing therapies, he orchestrated India’s Kala-Azar Control Program in the 1990s and spearheaded drug innovations. His single-dose liposomal Amphotericin-B became WHO-approved gold standard, while multi-drug regimens with Miltefosine and Paromomycin empowered rural clinics.
Miltefosine’s development and initial trials trace back to his lab, as does a pivotal 2002 trial on 300 patients boasting 94% efficacy via oral dosing. Over 38 years, Agarwal’s persistence turned a public health nightmare into a success story.
Grateful to the government, the soft-spoken professor insists he’s ‘just an ordinary person.’ Yet his legacy—WHO endorsements, national program adoptions—proves otherwise. This Padma Shri not only celebrates one man’s grit but underscores India’s strides in tropical disease elimination, setting a precedent for collaborative medical triumphs.
