Bijeta Chaudhuri was born in 1899 at Shillong to a Brahmin family from Sylhet. He spent his youth in Shantiniketan, matriculated from Patiala and passed his intermediate science exams from Dyal Singh College, Lahore. He graduated MB from Grant Medical College, Lahore, in 1922 then came to London for his Primary Fellowship. He was selected for the Indian Medical Services and returned to India in 1926 where he started his career in Quetta, North-West Frontier Province. He married Dipty Chatterjee, a great-granddaughter of Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, in 1932 returning to England for his Final FRCS in the same year. During his stay in England he was much influenced and remained friends with Sir Cecil Wakeley, Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor, Sir James Paterson Ross, Sir Harry Platt, Charles Rob and Charles Wells. After his return to India his postings included Delhi, the Andamans and Midnapore. As Captain Chaudhuri he was the senior medical officer of the Andaman Islands where he was regarded highly, not for only his surgical skills but for his improvements in medical and jail administration. He did invaluable work in the Celliar Jail in 1947 where there was not a single death, a fact recognised by both the Home Secretary and the Central Legislation Assembly. During the war he volunteered for overseas services in Malaya, commanding a field ambulance in 1942. He was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore. He was personally commended for his war service by the Supreme Allied Commander. In 1945 he was appointed DIG Prisons during the days of partition and all that followed. He was ADMS during the Indo-Pakistan operations and thereafter he held staff appointments in the Medical Directorate, eventually becoming Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services. His first love was surgery but he was recognised as a brilliant and far sighted administrator, playing a significant role in the reorganisation of the Army Medical Corps with particular attention to the specialist cadre, setting up the Armed Forces Medical College in Poona and increasing the opportunities for improving medical skills. He was a member of the Medical Council in India, showing great interest in the civilian medical services, and especially in the indigenous production of drugs and medical equipment and the establishment of radio-isotope centres and the setting up of several new medical colleges. He retired in 1959 and was made Honorary Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He led a quiet private life in New Delhi where he died on February 28 1982, survived by his brother Maitreyee.