Chandigarh, September 17 : Dr Kirpal Singh Chugh, fondly called father of nephrology in India, passed away on Sunday. He was 85.Belonging to Patti in Tarn Taran, he was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, in 2000.Dr Chugh, a professor emeritus and former head of Nephrology Department at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, was diagnosed with blood cancer (multiple myeloma) around two years back.He would often say after doing his MBBS from Government Medical College, Patiala, at 23, that he wanted to do his MD thesis in chronic kidney disease.But it was not a specialty recognised by the researchers. He was rejected thrice.Finally a dean of Panjab University said, “This boy is mad, let him do whatever he wants to do.” Then he wrote his seminal work on nephrology in 1958, which he would tell “was the first systematic study in the field of kidney diseases in India.