Daya Ram ThaparCIE, OBE was an Indian Army medical officer and Director-General of the India Armed Forces Medical Services.
Career
Thapar was born to a prominent Punjabi family in Lahore, where he received his early education. Joining the University of Edinburgh in 1911 for his medical studies, he graduated with an M.B.Ch. B. in 1916. later completing a doctorate of tropical medicine and hygiene from London University in 1930. He was commissioned in the Indian Medical Service as a temporary lieutenant on 25 March 1918. He was promoted to temporary captain on 25 March 1919. He received a regular commission as a lieutenant in the I.M.S. on 14 March 1920, and was promoted substantive captain on 25 March 1921. Thapar was promoted to major on 25 September 1929, and was appointed a staff captain on 1 July 1936. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 25 September 1937. On 14 October 1937, Thapar was posted to Peshawar as second-in-command of a hospital, and was appointed as the officiating Officer Commanding on 3 May 1938. He was posted to Rawalpindi on 15 June 1939 as Officer in Command of No. 1 Battalion Indian Hospital Corps. Assigned as Officer Commanding Indian Hospital Corps at Kirkee on 22 October 1942, Thapar was promoted to acting colonel on 5 November 1942 and to temporary colonel on 5 May 1943, while serving as Commandant, Indian Army Medical Corps HQ at Pune. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in the 1946 Birthday Honours list, having previously been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1942 New Year Honours. Thapar's final appointment prior to Indian independence was as Deputy Director of Medical Services, Medical Department. He was promoted to substantive colonel on 1 October 1946. Following Independence in 1947, Thapar was promoted to major-general on 3 September. On 1 January 1951, he was promoted to lieutenant-general and appointed Director-General, Armed Forces Medical Services, with an ex-officio appointment as a member of the Medical Council of India. He retired in 1954, and died at New Delhi in 1965.
