Career
Links to the 3 part interview: Participant 1 Participant 2 Participant 3. (If the links are not working for any reason the clips can be found on YouTube with search keywords Padmashree Palaniappan)
His love for Tamil language was immense. Midwives are considered to be the level 1 care providers.
Majority of them hail from small villages and towns of Southern India.
Professor.B.Palaniappan wrote a Midwifery text book in Tamil, ‘Maghaperu Maruthuvam’ to reach midwifery students whose command over English language was not good. Improving their understanding and knowledge was important to maintain the quality of care.
He took upon himself the responsibility of regulating the use of drugs in pregnancy. High-dose hormonal tablets can have teratogenic effects.
Though this was known, it was not practised.
He publicised and repeatedly highlighted the facts in various media, until it raised parliamentary debates in Delhi. Eventually the drugswere withdrawn from market. He expressed his passion for teaching by travelling to various institutes in India and abroad, delivering lectures to both undergraduates, post graduates and midwifery team
His research focussed on methods to make abortion safer, laporoscopic gynaecological procedures and tuboplasty surgical techniques to manage subfertility.
Palaniappan, an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, was a mentor and role model for many of his students.