Questions from a doctor’s life HEALTH ADDA

There is hardly any person in Uttar Pradesh who has not heard of Dr DK Chhabra, a senior neurosurgeon, who died recently. Over the decades his expertise, pragmatic advice and popularity had broken the shackles of his narrow surgical field as he got to be known as a “brain-specialist” as well as genuine adviser for all health problems.

I got to know him in 1987 when I joined the then upcoming Sanjay Gandhi PG Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow as a young member of the faculty in Gastroenterology. He had moved from his alma mater the KG Medical College where he had become the legendary omnipresent bachelor doctor living in the duty room of neurosurgery ward and always readily available to help anybody anytime.

At SGPGI, he has been tasked to head and develop neuro-sciences but due to his extraordinary eye for detail and quick balanced decision was additionally tasked by the director to set up not just his department, but the whole hospital, the building, equipment and the campus.

He was a tall and handsome man who spoke little. But when he did in low decibels with a baritone voice, his words were decisive and final. And being a reticent person, all our long cacophonic meetings in those days would always end with what this quiet man had to say and decide.

I was awestruck by his popularity. People hailing from remote villages had heard of him, and looked up to him like a deity. And everyone believed that if they could meet Dr DKC but only once, their problems would be solved!

The trust and adulation of patients and juniors he enjoyed evoke envy in many. Some of us looked up to him as a role model…shrugging off the spirit of erudite debates in which we had been groomed in other premier institutions, to join the alter of winning trust of patients armed with humility and sincerity. This proved more difficult than scoring marks in examinations!

And when I broke my hand on the field or when a senior colleague’s daughter met with a near fatal road accident and lay bleeding on the highway, everyone had just one advice, “Call Dr Chhabra”. And he would always be there to bail you out, quickly disappearing before the flood of gratitude and lime lights would come on!

One of the reasons I held him in very high esteem was because he did not yearn for fame and publicity that most doctors aspire for. He did not become a director of any institute nor did he win any national award. He was shy and did not feature on page 3 of newspapers either.

And yet he is revered by far more people than many who won accolades, posts and titles!

He has often made many of us ask of ourselves, “What are we working for? If not fame, rank, publicity or money, then what?” Mere passion or a special calling!

He would not give discourses, but leave others to draw conclusions from the way he led his quiet life, seeing 80 patients every day in his crowded OPD till recently. He was a regular reader of Health Adda since 2009 and encouraged me to keep writing. RIP DKC!

HE HAS OFTEN MADE MANY OF US ASK OF OURSELVES, “WHAT ARE WE WORKING FOR? IF NOT FAME, RANK, PUBLICITY OR MONEY, THEN WHAT?”

Dr DK Chhabra