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 There is a general criticism that the medical profession has become more and more commercialized. What is your opinion?
I don't know why everyone is focussing on the medical profession. I mean, if you want to build a house, the contractor overcharges. A guy who arranges everything for you over- charges. Here you are entrusting your life to the surgeon. So I think there should be some fair return. Of course there is no justification for overcharging.
You mend sick hearts. How did you lose your heart?
Well actually, my wife joined my department in the AIIMS as a house surgeon and that's how we met and we decided to get married. We got married just a couple of days before I left for New Zealand. She didn't get a visa and had to wait six months. I think we have been very supportive of each other. She was the first person to do a liver transplant in this country and I helped her. Both of us have tried to do as much in our lives as possible.
What is the secret behind your success?
I think the basic thing in cardiac surgery is teamwork. It's not a field where one alone can achieve much. You have to build a team you can depend on totally. You can only do a part of the surgery. It is a whole group of people working with you who help pull the patient through. So if I've succeeded, it is because of my team. Any surgeon who thinks it is only the surgeon that matters is not going to go very far, at least in cardiac surgery. I don't know about other fields.
It is not just the immediate team, there are also cardiologists, anesthetists, the lab people. Only one person gets the name, but there is a group of about 100 people working with you. An enormous amount of effort is required. The important thing is to simplify procedures, standardize them and change only when you find a better way to handle a problem. Once everything is standardized, the results improve rapidly. When things go well, I am good to my boys. But if not, I give them a tough time. Then I also do a lot of introspection to find where we went wrong. So we are constantly learning and we are getting better. More importantly, if tomorrow I quit, the work will go on. These youngsters with me have learnt a lot. They are also motivated and I am sure they will do more and more as they go along. So 10-15 years down the line, we will find they are doing better than I ever did. But we got things going. That is all I take credit for.
Shall I say that is your greatest achievement?
I would say I have trained at least 20 surgeons and some of them are heading units and doing remarkable work. I am quite proud of them. Take Dr. Dikshit in Hyderabad, Dr. Ganesh Mani in Delhi, Dr. Rajesh Desai and Dr. Kumar Mehta in Ahmedabad, Dr. Ramesh Seshadri in Pune. They are spread out and doing well. Also, I have managed to send my boys abroad for training, to open their eyes a bit to what is available there.
Isn't learning then a continuous process for surgeons?
Yes, it is. The moment you stop learning, you are finished in your career.
Akshaya
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