One of them is a member of the West Bengal legislative assembly
and the other is a three-time member of Parliament. During the lockdown, the husband-wife duo, Sudarshan and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who are reputed gynaecologists
and obstetricians of Kolkata, have assisted in as many as 30 IVF births during
the lockdown.

“We have been doing this job for the past 35-40 years. We have a
wide network,” Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar told Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika.
Dastidar, a former student of Subhas Mukhopadhyay, who assisted in the delivery
of the country’s first test-tube baby in 1978, is an MLA of ruling Trinamool
Congress.

Soft spoken Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar, who was also the environment
minister in the Mamata Banerjee government between 2011 and 2016, loves to
introduce himself as a doctor first.

Kakoli is an MP from the Lok Sabha constituency of Barasat in
North 24 Parganas district adjoining Kolkata.

The couple has been running G D Institute for Fertility Research
that specialises in IVF.

During the lockdown, most doctors downed their shutters in the
city, but not the Ghosh Dastidars. Sudarshan, who says treating patients is his
“passion” decided to keep the doors of his clinic open. Both as doctors and as politicians,
the couple had all the more reason to close down since both the roles brought
them to close proximity with people.

“Treating patients is my passion. I cannot just think of
discontinuing it,” said the doctor, who first won from Mahishadal assembly
constituency in East Midnapore district.

Sudarshan’s wife Kakoli has been a more visible face in politics.
She was a constant companion of Mamata Banerjee since 1998 when she floated
Trinamool Congress that grabbed power in the state only 13 years after it was
set up.

After Subhas Mukhopadhyay tragically committed suicide after a
hail of criticism despite his remarkable success in 1978, his student Sudarshan
carried on the IVF technique and set up his institute. In 1982 Ghosh Dastidar was
a major contributor in independently developing a laboratory protocol of IVF in
Kolkata that led to the birth of the country’s second IVF baby in 1986. In
2005, he successfully conducted IVF technique in a surrogate mother.

Kakoli’s journey as a doctor began in 1986, who was one of the
first to work with 3D ultrasound machine with Doppler.