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Bedlam broke loose when a couple from Trichy, Tamil
Nadu, both practising doctors, allowed their 15-year-old son Dhileepan
Raj, a 10th standard student to perform a caesarean operation. All done
for the thirst to enter the Guinness Book of World Records! The operation
conducted on a 20-year-old woman on June 21, 2006 was successful, but
raised the wrath of the medical fraternity and the Indian Medical Association
(IMA) in particular.
Dhileepan's father Dr K Murugesan, who runs his
own nursing home—Mathi Surgical and Maternity Hospital in Manaparai,
recorded the operation on video and showed the footage to the local chapter
of the IMA, saying that he wanted his son to win a Guinness Record as
the world's youngest surgeon and hence encouraged him to go ahead with
the operation. However, the IMA was not amused. Despite the couple being
accused of violating medical ethics by leading members of IMA, the couple
refused to accept the horrifying fact that they had committed breach of
trust. However, later Dr Murugesan and his wife who is a gynaecologist,
retracted their statement saying that the operation was conducted under
the 'watchful eye' of Dr Murugesan and that he had been training his son
for three years before he went ahead with the operation. To top it all,
it was later also revealed that this was not the first operation which
was performed by Dhileepan Raj!
It was not clear from the footage of the video,
given to the IMA whether the patient was aware that she was being operated
by a 15-year-old boy. The baby Dhileepan delivered was born with a noticeable
lump on the spinal cord, Dr Prasad said, but added that the birth defect
had nothing to do with the surgery having been performed by a teenager.
The IMA, however, did not sit back in silence.
The matter was immediately taken up to higher authorities. The Chairman
of the IMA's academic wing Dr KK Aggarwal called it "shocking and
extremely unethical". "We were all shocked, but he just didn't
listen," said Venkatesh Prasad, secretary of the Manaparai Medical
Association to a leading newspaper. "He said that we were jealous
and were not recognising his son's progress. He had no consideration for
the ethics of the surgery," added Prasad.
The couple dug their own graves when they were
on the verge of losing their licenses.
The case in point was yet another blow to the Indian
healthcare industry and the much hyped about medical tourism. An American
blog site was quoted saying: Next time you think of visiting India for
a cheap heart bypass surgery or hip replacement, think twice. And then
think again. You never know if it's a doctor or a Guinness Book wannabe
opening you up!
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This
was what captured much media attention in 2007. The ego clash between
Union Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss and the Former Director of
the All India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and eminent
cardiac surgeon Dr P Venugopal. The tug-of-war between the two dates back
to July 2006, when Dr Ramadoss with the backup of a 17-member governing
body decided to give the Director the termination letter on the ground
that he had violated the code of conduct by publicly accusing the Government
of interfering with the internal affairs and administration of AIIMs.
The
ousting of former Executive Director of Escorts and eminent cardiac surgeon
Dr Naresh Trehan on May 2007 took the medical community by surprise. Accusations
of extravagant spending and expenditure from the Hospital's funds into
his Medicity project came to the fore, when overnight Dr Trehan was relieved
from his post and not allowed to enter the Institute. Dr Trehan never
liked the forcible takeover of his Institute and there was a growing rift
between the management and Dr Trehan as the latter was found to be concentrating
more on his own project. While differences had been brewing for sometime,
they reached a boiling point when it was made official that Dr Trehan's
focus on the Rs 1,000-crore Medicity project was coming in the way of
the Group's interests. The management gave various options to Dr Trehan,
but when they were not acceptable to Dr Trehan, they decided to take the
drastic step. The mud slinging match between the two parties was soon
followed by the hospital filing an FIR case against the doctor. As the
situation unfurled, all pandemonium broke loose at the premises of New
Delhi's renowned hospital. Angry patients broke through operation theatres
and raised slogans against the authority. Dr Trehan finally found recourse
when he joined arch-rival, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi as
the head of the cardiology department. The hospital management then withdrew
its case against the doctor citing the controversy as a ‘mere misunderstanding’.
Dr Trehan later sold his 10 per cent stake of Escorts and now has been
concentrating on building the Medicity. 
