15/09/2024
Ketan Khurjekar, “Hadacha Doctor”
As someone has said – “A good doctor treats the disease but a great doctor treats the patient who has the disease”. Ketan was a great doctor who not only treated the ailment but focused on changing the outlook and mentality of the patient. He dedicated his entire working life to make a dent in the field of spine surgery and treat thousands of needy patients but his main focus was more holistic – he wanted to treat the patient. He realized every patient is unique, have set of his own believes, personal challenges and superstitions and a set of good and bad advisers. He respected everyone for who they were and never criticized anyone (not even in his mind); he realized everyone was uniquely special and he celebrated everyone. He treated each patient with a sole focus of treating them and bringing smile on their face and giving them best possible advice (which majority of the times resulted in no surgery). He never looked at patient’s name, background, economic status, religion, or how complicated the case might be. He always told me “Harshu – ek pan patient ghari janar nahi without appropriate treatment. I will work 24 x 7 but I will do my level best to treat every patient, however difficult the case may be or however poor the patient might be.” He believed that patients’ economic status can’t be a decision factor for the type of treatment. He was truly special and driven beyond one’s wildest dreams. He was driven by a mission to make a difference in everyone’s life – partly because he was blessed with a good personality and intelligence but mainly because of sheer GRIT. He was a simple student with EXTRAORDINARY WILLPOWER. He was a thinker, worked extremely hard and was a forever student of the art of spine and orthopedic surgery. He was also fortunate to have learnt from one of the bests – Dr. K. H. Sancheti, Dr. Parag Sancheti, Dr. Rajsekaran, Dr. Sangeet Gawhale, Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein, the entire Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences’ team (Karad) to name a few.
I am going to share a few short stories about him that would probably help depict what kind of doctor he was and what shaped his thinking and believes. First of all, during his early age - he was never planning to be a doctor. He wanted to become a lawyer and build upon the solid foundation my father has built in the field of law. It was my mother who always felt Ketan would be a good doctor; maybe she knew he was special. I must say he was ‘on the fence’ for a long time. His aptitude in biology and sciences was amazing but his dynamic personality and great communication/interpersonal skills were very suited to be a top lawyer as well.
I am going to tell you a personal story that probably helped him make the tough choice to leave the field of law and dedicate his life to the field of medicine. He was severely ill during his 11th standard with an unusual strain of hepatitis which was not getting cured for a long time. He was infected almost for 6-7 months and was very critical at one point. My father must have taken him to every doctor possible in Pune and Mumbai. I remember Late Dr. H.V. Sardesai, a renowned doctor in Pune, at one point told my father – “Dev panyat theva. Ha mulga wachana khup difficult ahe”. His bilirubin levels were very critical and he had almost lost 20-25 kgs since he contracted hepatitis; he had become so weak that my dad had to carry him at times. However, with god’s grace and help from multiple doctors - he miraculously recovered and he probably realized the invaluable contribution to the society he can do in the field of medicine.
Second story probably is one of the many incidents in his life that may have shaped his belief of reaching out to needy patients and not focusing on patients’ economic strata. He was doing his apprenticeship post MS Ortho at a municipal hospital. During one of the weekends, when he was working there, one railway cleaning staff came to the hospital as she accidently cut 4 of her fingers while working near a railway car and wanted to get it re-attached. She was told by her friends and family that if you can get the cut fingers to hospital within a few hours – doctors can re-attach the fingers. The plastic surgeon who was on-call at that time could not show up as he was busy on another case. The plastic surgeon asked Ketan if she would be willing to get admitted to a private hospital and other doctors at that hospital might be able to help. Ketan told the plastic surgeon that the lady is very poor and won’t be able to afford the treatment at a private hospital. Unfortunately, the lady’s hand had to be amputed because that particular plastic surgeon was busy and the patient in this case could not afford to pay more money at the private hospital. I was with Ketan that night – he was extremely sad and was very frustrated with the system. Ketan asked his superior to allow him to operate this lady even though he was not a plastic surgeon but his superior at that time refused and asked him to go ahead with the amputation (as plastic surgeon was “not available”). He was deeply moved by this episode. He told me that day that he would focus his practice on operating every patient irrespective of their economic strata or however difficult the case maybe. He also made a specific focus to go to tier 2/3 cities and rural areas as he believed that many of the medical advanced knowledge or techniques were not available in these locations. He used to spend 6-7 days every month at these tier 2/3 locations. It was exhausting for him to do this on a regular basis but he believed his skills are of no use if he can’t reach out to the masses and he got a lot of satisfaction and joy.
Third story is about his determination to learn the best techniques all over the world and bring those to India, his ‘matru bhumi’ and ‘karma bhumi’. He was forever a student of the art of spine surgery. As part of gaining advanced knowledge, Ketan travelled around the world and took advanced education and did fellowships under renowned spine surgeons all over the world. He was probably studying / doing fellowships for 7-8 years post his MS Ortho. This involved multiple sacrifices on personal front (he was away from his wife and family as his wife was studying MD Radio during this time; also, Tejasee, his elder daughter was born during this time). He was very sad on the personal front but always told me – “ Harshu – option nahi ahe. If we don’t do it (learn new techniques and education from all over the world), who would do it?”. One specific incident is etched in my memory is fellowship in NYU in New York. He did a fellowship at NYU and they really liked him. The main spine surgeon there requested him to stay there as a research fellow, he offered him a good package (salary) and a promise to get him into the spine department if he clears USMLE. I am based in New York for a long time and told him he should seriously consider taking this “golden” opportunity. He was very clear in his mind – he wanted to finish his short fellowship and get back to Pune and was unfazed by the great opportunity NYU offered him. He said – “I will build my dream in Pune. Pune will become one of the best spine surgery centers in the world. I need to be in India as India needs my skillsets and I need to pay my dues to my country, teachers and patients.”
He embarked on his dream to build a great spine center in Pune and as part of his vision – he proactively trained lots of young and dynamic doctors into great spine surgeons. Sancheti Spine unit is one of the best spine surgery units in India today. He was also an eager teacher who wanted to impart his knowledge to the world and train as many doctors as possible. He travelled extensively throughout India for that.
One of the wishes he had that remained unfulfilled is building one of the biggest and best spine surgery and research centers in the world. He was actively working with his superiors and colleagues on this vision and had a grand plan. I am going to share some of his vision here with a hope that his spine surgery colleagues and students will strive hard to build further on the vision he had and the movement he created in his small capacity.
Some highlights from his mission and vision (as narrated by him to me multiple times):
- World Class Spine Surgery Institute and Research Center (“The Spine Center”)– “Preferred Hands for Back Care”
o One of the biggest Spine dedicated centers in the world.
o The Spine Center will cater to every class of spine injured patient, irrespective of his financial condition, with honesty and ethical values.
o 90% of spine problems are life style diseases. There should be a dedicated department of ‘Nonoperative treatment of back & neck care” (Holistic approach)
o The Spine Center will provide back support to all sport associations, clubs, and state/national/international teams.
o International patients will have a dedicated floor with interpretation/translation facilities, their country specific food cuisine/menu, currency exchange etc.
o The Spine Center will impart knowledge and expertise by means of teaching programs, fellowship & degree certification in the field of spine surgery, nursing, OT experts, technicians and genomics.
o Comprehensive and dedicated spine research wing which will produce and present cutting-edge research in the field of Spine Surgery and present at various national and international conferences on a regular basis.
I can keep on writing more and more about my extraordinary brother but I will conclude my writing here with one final thought.
Let us all continue to pursue his vision of honesty, excellence and humanity forward. He dedicated his life to the world of Spine Surgery and patients and touched thousands of lives through his surgical skills. He wanted to make this world a better place every minute. He truly believed in “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (“The World is One Family”) and treated everyone he interacted with utmost love and sincerity. Let us all try to bring a little bit of Ketan in our actions. Let us try to do our best every day; let us try to work hard and strive hard every day in whatever we do. This would be the best tribute to him.
Yours truly,
Harshu (Harshad Shripad Khurjekar)
September 1, 2020
Personal note: It has taken me almost a year to sit down and write about my beloved brother. It is very difficult for me to talk more about him but I need to do this for his friends, students and my nieces; I am one of the few lucky souls who was blessed to spend a lot of valuable years with him. I am going to write multiple articles about Ketan as it is hard to capture his magnanimous personality at one go. The above article is focused on my experience with him as a Doctor.
