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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

THE TEEN SURGEON: WHY THE FUSS?

We have all read of the Indian teen surgeon who did a Caesarian Section under the doting eyes of his parents, one a surgeon and the (m)other a gynecologist. The father thought he could post a claim for the 'youngest surgeon of the world' tag with a beer manufacturing company that recognises the oddballs in the world, and out of it! The only thing is he forgot his son had no degree, and that for the patient, it would be a medical third-degree.
Now, after putting the parents behind bars, the cops are out looking for the young boy.
I have some brilliant points lined up as commentary about this event. In case I forget these and end up with just a typically chaotic circum-Presidential mish-mash (a.k.a. 'beating about the bush'), blame it on the hot air. Global warming is finally here!



First, the act of experimenting on a patient is tough enough to defend. Next, the father has to defend doing that without taking due consent from the patient and her unborn child. Another problem: he has to explain away his enormous stupidity to his in-laws on one side of the prison bars! How could he, as a practising doctor, not know that he was publicising an act that would make him not only a criminal in law, but a criminal-in-law!?
To top it all, he didn't have the brains to marry a woman who would have the senses about her to tie him down to his chair and ask him to behave. What sort of woman allows her husband to make such a global ass of himself, unless he is the President of the United States? I mean, is her name Hillary or what?
Dr. Murugesan (let us all reverentially call him by that prefix before it gets struck off the rolls) was not much more than stupid and unlucky. He just had the typical Indian laissez faire (to give the term a bad name it doesn't deserve) chalta hai attitude that embellishes a blatant disrespect for the law, and a conviction that in this country, do what you can before you get caught, if at all, and then buy and beg your way out.
In much of the country, health care is about making a black buck and hunting a case like the animal of the same name.
So a surgeon trains his son to be an expert surgeon, a money making cottage industry, without remembering that civilised Third world countries also profess (practice is a different thing altogether) the need for certain recognisable standards like degrees (what degrees?), credentialling and privileges. Those are Western standards. Do they have any relevance in a country where quacks treat a majority of people, where politicians and actors sniff the pungent feet of inebriated sadhus and babas, where neurosurgeons cut hydroceles, and cardiac surgeons do hernia operations? Yes, I am not talking of the big city hospitals, but of the real India, from which we are blissfully protected by our LCD screens and power-windows.
In a country where the health infrastructure rests dominantly on quacks, why target an errant surgeon to this extent? Let us give him his place under the Indian sun, and make him a Health Minister or something. That will show the world that, bullshitters though we may be, we are consistent and honest, unlike Zimbabwe, Gabon or Bangladesh. But, as we say: "What to do, we are like this only!"

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Is he trying to demonstrate that any Tom, Dick and Harry can do it?

Happy Father's Day.

B. Ramana said...

Huh??
I thought Father's Day was a few weeks back? Or Malaysian Fathers are different?!

Anonymous said...

Scathing satire...well written.

You must also read Ashok's post:
http://krishashok.wordpress.com/2007/06/28/mr-michael-moore-is-ignoring-my-country/

I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

B. Ramana said...

Thanks, Mahendra. You can actually use the html coding to hyperlink your text in this comment box.

Anonymous said...

Ah. So this is how the Surgical Pun-dit found my humble blog :) Brilliant post. And I agree with the doc completely. When desi boys can marry at 11 and impregnate at 13, why can't they go one step more and get da baby out eh?

B. Ramana said...

Krish,
Your innocence is so touching!
Desi boys impregnate at 11, and marry at 13, just the reverse of what you think!
:-)
Thanks for the kind words.