Dr Rajendra Shirahatti

The Surgeon's Knot Dr Rajendra Shirahatti

This is a heartwarming story of a young doctor training to be a surgeon. Forty years ago, despite overcrowded hospitals and a chronic shortage of supplies, young doctors struggled to provide succor to poor patients in large government hospitals as residents still do. A young resident finds himself in situations that test his humanity and ingenuity. Textbooks had exhorted him to try his hardest and that no patient is beyond care. But he realizes that the practice of surgery is vastly different from what the textbooks tell you to do. He understands that patients with incurable diseases in their last moments deserve death with dignity.

During his residency, he encounters a young boy with an incurable cancer, a hemophilic, and a child with opium addiction. Some of the "frequent fliers" teach valuable lessons in empathy and the need to be nonjudgmental. He meets with a suspected child rapist, a powerful don, and a transgender who willingly donates blood to save a child.

Professor Joshi, Sister Thomas, and Professor Vilas all contribute to his maturing as a surgeon. He is witness to the honesty of nurses and attendants who return a pouch full of uncut diamonds to the owner. The tragic end of Professor Joshi and Sister Thomas is narrated simply without any histrionics. These stories will touch your heart and make you smile.

Many of the experiences narrated in the book will bring a sense of déjà vu to senior doctors. The aspiring surgeons will find it interesting and, hopefully, inspiring.