A Pioneer’s Unheard Legacy

Dr Swayambar Prasad Sudrania (90), a paediatrician, received a phone call from Nepal at around 2 am. The person on the other side first apologised for calling at such an odd hour and then said, “Sir, my baby has been crying continuously for the last 4-5 hours, and we are unable to find the reason. Can you please prescribe some medicine?” Dr Sudrania asked the caller to let him hear the baby’s cry. After listening for a few minutes, he prescribed some medicine and asked the caller to contact him the next day if the baby did not get any relief.

The next day, the caller rang again and thanked him, saying that the baby had stopped crying after being given the medicine. He then asked what the problem had been, to which Dr Sudrania replied that the baby had been suffering from ear pain.

Dr Sudrania, the first MD in Paediatrics and a gold medallist from SMS Medical College, University of Rajasthan, began his professional journey in 1966 from Ummed Hospital Jodhpur, at a time when medical infrastructure and technology was far less advanced than it is today.

Over the years, his curiosity about the relationship between an infant’s cry and its health led him to develop this technique he named the Electro-Cry-Gram, through which the sound of a baby’s cry could be analysed graphically to help identify the ailment the child is suffering from.

He said, “I was the first to identify clues to a baby’s illness from the sound of its cry. I always listened carefully to a baby’s cry and later started recording babies’ cries on a small tape recorder. I would then visit the Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI) in Pilani or the Department of Physics at Delhi University to have the graphs prepared and study them to diagnose the disease or illness.”

The field of acoustic AI diagnostics at present has become a global buzzword, but Dr Sudrania 37 years ago uniquely applied C.V. Raman’s Principle of Energy Conversion to pediatric medicine. He developed a groundbreaking technique to convert a child’s cry into electromechanical signals and subsequent graphical wave patterns, mapping unique frequencies to specific childhood illnesses. Through this methodology, he demonstrated that a baby's cry holds vital diagnostic clues such as a shrill cry could indicate a congenital abnormality of the vocal cords, a hoarse cry could signal hypothyroidism or congenital heart disease, and subtle variations could unveil underlying neurological, respiratory, or systemic disorders. When asked if others practised this "electrocrygram" technique, Dr Sudrania said, “I developed this technique, and it will die with me.”

It is not practised in India, but his pioneering work has been internationally acknowledged, recognised, accepted and clinically practised abroad.

He presided over the International Paediatric Conference in Tokyo (1982) and presented his technique under the title ‘Electro Cry Gram as a Diagnostic and Prognostic Tool in Different Diseases in Paediatric Practice – A New Concept’.

Another feather in Dr Sudrania’s cap is that he was the key person in developing oral rehydration in powder form, which was named & launched as ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution) later by the World Health Organisation (WHO) sometime in early 1970’s.

When he entered the medical profession, diarrhoeal diseases were among the leading causes of child mortality. He therefore researched serum electrolyte disturbances in infantile diarrhoea, recognising that dehydration and electrolyte imbalance were major determinants of survival. Dr Sudrania’s postgraduate thesis, ‘A Study on Serum Electrolytes in Infantile and Early Childhood Diarrhoea’, contributed to a better understanding of sodium and potassium imbalances in affected children.

“I sent my thesis (research paper) to the Health Journals & WHO around 1968–69 and also served as a consulting research member of the WHO Committee on ORS in Geneva, Europe,” he recalled.

Dr Sudrania also made early contributions to the clinical study of medical dermatoglyphics during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Dermatoglyphics is the scientific study of the unique palm lines & ridge patterns on fingers and palms.

When asked whether dermatoglyphics was known during his early years in medicine, the renowned senior paediatrician replied, “Yes, it was.” He recalled that there was basic knowledge of the subject in medical textbooks. As many people are drawn to palmistry, he too was initially attracted to it. Dr Sudrania was among the early researchers to explore this technique, which involved the scientific study of fingerprint and palmar ridge patterns as a clinical aid in paediatric practice. It helped in early clinical screening of congenital, genetic, neurological and developmental disorders.

He said, “I was sent by the Government of Rajasthan on the invitation from Libya to teach students in medical colleges established in Tripoli and Benghazi between 1977 and 1983. The technique of analysing children's crying patterns to identify illness and dermatoglyphics helped me a lot to overcome language barriers as people there spoke Arabic.”

Even at the age of 90, he continues to actively consult patients from the comfort of his home. He served for 32 years at Medical Colleges in Jaipur, Bikaner and Jodhpur, treated more than 25 lakh children across hospitals and taught 6000 doctors and para-medical trainees across India. He has visited 29 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and USA attending medical conferences, delivering lectures, presenting research papers and chairing sessions.