Odisha’s Identical Twin Gynaecologists – Facts and More

Insight Bureau: It is said “Miracles come in pairs” and so do Twins!

Science has proven that since identical twins develop from a single fertilized egg, they have the same genes. Any differences between twins are due to their environments, not genetics.

Amongst the many miracles that have happened, one that is amazingly interesting, are a pair of identical twins, hailing from Odisha. The interesting part being, they have been the longest practicing doctors, and that too, in the same speciality “Gynaecology”.

You must have heard about identical twin gynaecologists Stewart and Cyril Marcus who were born in June 2, 1930. They both practiced together in New York City. They also died together in July 1975, at the age of 45.

This pair of identical twins, Dr. Prana Ranjan Dash and Dr. Manoranjan Dash have been the longest serving twin gynaecologist in the country. After completing their degrees, they started their career in 1975 and continued practicing together till 2017, the year Manoranjan died. They served for 66 years.

Just like every other pair of twins, Dr. Prana Ranjan and Dr. Manoranjan Dash, were born a minute apart and have been connected to each other from their childhood. They shared an un-parallel bond. What made them unique was their thinking abilities and feelings toward people were always the same.

They also shared an astonishing streak of adventure. During their house-surgeonship, they decided to open a clinic in a small town near Sambalpur, Odisha. Since they were still students, time was a constraint and to manage time, one brother attended clinic in the morning while the other did the same, in the evening. This went on quite well, since none of their patients could identify one from the other. They obviously looked the same, to top it all, their outlook and thinking was similar. This helped them understand and treat their patients almost identically.

Dr. Prana Ranjan and Dr. Manoranjan Dash, graduated from “The Vir Surendra Sai Medical college, Burla, Odisha”. They are still known, in their “Alma Mater” as the identical twin practicing doctors.

When they slowly established themselves, as known doctors, in their field, both of them built nursing homes, one in Bargarh and another one in Rourkela with the same name ‘Sudha Nursing Home’, almost simultaneously.

Jolly and carefree as they were, This pair reached a point in their life (at the about the same time), when they got religiously inclined. To pursue this inclination, they took up philanthropic work and divided their time between medical emergencies, surgeries, consultations, setting up a trust and spearheading the construction of Shirdi Sai Baba Temple, one each in Bargarh and Rourkela, Odisha. All this happened at about the same time in the lives of our identical twin pair.

With any sibling the shared love and respect is always there but with twins the intensity of this relationship goes a notch high. So much so, that with the passing away of Dr. Manoranjan, his twin brother, Dr. Prana Ranjan, feels as if, half of him, has died. The zeal, energy and enthusiasm toward life, which both of them shared, slowly dwindling for the brother who is alive. Yet, he lives on, remembering his twin, every single moment of his life.

To memorialize and celebrate, their distinctiveness, of being the longest practicing identical twin gynaecologists, their families have applied for them to be listed in ‘The Limca Book of Records’.