Samiran Nundy: Tackling India’s corruption › content › bmj › 360 › bmj.k105.full.pdf ·...
2
BMJ CONFIDENTIAL Samiran Nundy: Tackling India ’ s corruption [Image: Duncan Smith] Biography Samiran Nundy, 80, is an Indian gastrointestinal surgeon who trained at Cambridge and worked at leading UK and US hospitals until returning to India in 1975. He has no regrets—despite describing Indian healthcare as a choice between underfunded, inefficient public hospitals and potentially rapacious private ones. He worked at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) until 1996 and then at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, where he is now emeritus consultant. He is a fearless critic of corrupt practice in Indian medicine, such as taking kickbacks for referrals and forcing doctors in private hospitals to generate profits. This year he was co-winner (with Zulfiqar Bhutta) of the BMJ South Asia Award for outstanding achievement. What was your earliest ambition? My maternal grandfather (a lawyer and an anglophile snob who had the British title of Rai Bahadur) wanted me to be a diplomat because he considered doctors socially inferior. But my father, a surgeon, wanted me to be a doctor. I chose to study medicine. What was your best career move? Returning to India at my wife’ s insistence, to “help the poor. ” This was after I’ d been educated at an elite boarding school in Darjeeling and trained in medicine at Cambridge, London, and Harvard. Adjusting was difficult, but I was lucky to have a supportive wife and ended up having an interesting and fulfilling career. It’ s been a great experience to work in a poor country, where I could use my rather refined background and feel needed and appreciated. What was the worst mistake in your career? Having been passed over for promotion—unfairly, I thought—at the AIIMS, a friend arranged for me to see someone in the prime minister’ s office to investigate the matter. This gentleman told me that I should have come to see him before the selection committee meeting and that he would have fixed my promotion. It was humiliating. How is your work-life balance? Mainly work. I used to play the classical guitar but can ’t do this any longer, as I’ve become tone deaf. How do you keep fit and healthy? Fifteen minutes of exercise in the mornings: Royal Canadian Air Force and a stationary cycle. What single change would you like to see made to the NHS? I can ’t answer this with any authority, but I’ m amazed, after a recent experience with a British resident niece, how wonderful the NHS is. In India, patients worry so much about whether they can afford medical treatment. What do you wish that you had known when you were younger? That being poor (I used to earn about £11 a month in 1975 and couldn ’t afford to eat meat more than twice a week) wasn ’t such a big deal. Do doctors get paid enough? Yes. In India we have patients who are poor, and we can ’t expect to be as rich as American surgeons. For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe BMJ 2018;360:k105 doi: 10.1136/bmj.k105 (Published 17 January 2018) Page 1 of 2 Observations OBSERVATIONS on 28 July 2020 by guest. Protected by copyright. http://www.bmj.com/ BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.k105 on 17 January 2018. Downloaded from
Transcript of Samiran Nundy: Tackling India’s corruption › content › bmj › 360 › bmj.k105.full.pdf ·...
BMJ CONFIDENTIAL
Samiran Nundy: Tackling India’s corruption
[Image: Duncan Smith]
BiographySamiran Nundy, 80, is an Indian gastrointestinalsurgeon who trained at Cambridge and worked atleading UK and US hospitals until returning to Indiain 1975. He has no regrets—despite describingIndian healthcare as a choice between underfunded,inefficient public hospitals and potentially rapaciousprivate ones. He worked at the All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS) until 1996 and then at theSir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, where he is nowemeritus consultant. He is a fearless critic of corruptpractice in Indian medicine, such as taking kickbacksfor referrals and forcing doctors in private hospitalsto generate profits. This year he was co-winner (withZulfiqar Bhutta) of the BMJ South Asia Award foroutstanding achievement.
What was your earliest ambition?My maternal grandfather (a lawyer and an anglophile snob whohad the British title of Rai Bahadur) wanted me to be a diplomatbecause he considered doctors socially inferior. But my father,a surgeon, wanted me to be a doctor. I chose to study medicine.
What was your best career move?Returning to India at my wife’s insistence, to “help the poor.”This was after I’d been educated at an elite boarding school in
Darjeeling and trained in medicine at Cambridge, London, andHarvard. Adjusting was difficult, but I was lucky to have asupportive wife and ended up having an interesting and fulfillingcareer. It’s been a great experience to work in a poor country,where I could use my rather refined background and feel neededand appreciated.
What was the worst mistake in yourcareer?Having been passed over for promotion—unfairly, I thought—atthe AIIMS, a friend arranged for me to see someone in the primeminister’s office to investigate the matter. This gentleman toldme that I should have come to see him before the selectioncommittee meeting and that he would have fixed my promotion.It was humiliating.
How is your work-life balance?Mainly work. I used to play the classical guitar but can’t do thisany longer, as I’ve become tone deaf.
How do you keep fit and healthy?Fifteen minutes of exercise in the mornings: Royal CanadianAir Force and a stationary cycle.
What single change would you like to seemade to the NHS?I can’t answer this with any authority, but I’m amazed, after arecent experience with a British resident niece, how wonderfulthe NHS is. In India, patients worry so much about whetherthey can afford medical treatment.
What do you wish that you had knownwhen you were younger?That being poor (I used to earn about £11 a month in 1975 andcouldn’t afford to eat meat more than twice a week) wasn’t sucha big deal.
Do doctors get paid enough?Yes. In India we have patients who are poor, and we can’t expectto be as rich as American surgeons.
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
BMJ 2018;360:k105 doi: 10.1136/bmj.k105 (Published 17 January 2018) Page 1 of 2
Observations
OBSERVATIONS
on 28 July 2020 by guest. Protected by copyright.
http://ww
w.bm
j.com/
BM
J: first published as 10.1136/bmj.k105 on 17 January 2018. D
ownloaded from
To whom would you most like toapologise?To my wife and children, for not seeing enough of them. Mywife struggled with cardiac amyloidosis for 28 years, and Icontinued to work relentlessly at my job—although I stoppedtravelling outside Delhi during the last three years of her life.
What do you usually wear to work?A shirt and trousers. No jacket, even in winter, except for formaloccasions.
Which living doctor do you most admire,and why?Yogesh Jain, a paediatrician I taught as a student at AIIMS, whohas set up the Jan Swasthya Sahyog health centre in ruralChhattisgarh, where he organises medical care for villagers andtribal people.
What is the worst job you have done?Senior house physician at Guy’s, where I worked fornon-academic, anti-intellectual, mediocre bosses.
What single unheralded change has madethe most difference in your field in yourlifetime?Healthcare privatisation in India. Despite widespread corruptionthe quality of treatment in the best hospitals is often of an“international” standard. Now hardly anyone goes abroad formedical care.
What new technology or development areyou most looking forward to?Widespread use of electronic medical records in India, so wecan find out what our medical problems actually are.
What book should every doctor read?The Citadel by A J Cronin.
What is your guiltiest pleasure?Taking a 20 minute nap in my office in the afternoon. I wasadvised to do this by Dr P K Sethi, of “Jaipur foot” fame, who
said that Winston Churchill took afternoon naps during thesecond world war.
Where are or when were you happiest?On a camping holiday in the Loire Valley in France, in a beat-upred Volkswagen Beetle with my wife and 9 month old son.
What television programmes do you like?I don’t watch television now, but The World this Week on NewDelhi Television was an all time great.
What personal ambition do you still have?To complete the Oxford Gastrointestinal Surgery Library ofnine volumes, with Dirk Gouma of Amsterdam.
Summarise your personality in threewordsUnimaginative, conventional, but hardworking.
What is your pet hate?Boiled carrots; and milk with cream floating on top.
What would be on the menu for your lastsupper?Kyauk swe, a Burmese dish, followed by butterscotch ice cream.
What poem, song, or passage of prosewould you like mourners at your funeralto hear?Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tarrega, played onclassical guitar by John Williams.
Is the thought of retirement a dream or anightmare?A nightmare. I wouldn’t know what to do.
If you weren’t in your present positionwhat would you be doing instead?Full time editor of a medical journal.
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
BMJ 2018;360:k105 doi: 10.1136/bmj.k105 (Published 17 January 2018) Page 2 of 2
OBSERVATIONS
on 28 July 2020 by guest. Protected by copyright.
http://ww
w.bm
j.com/
BM
J: first published as 10.1136/bmj.k105 on 17 January 2018. D
ownloaded from
