The division between private and public must go: Dr Subhash Gupta

The division between private and public must go: Dr Subhash Gupta Dr KK Aggarwal, Editor in Chief eMedinewS and IMA News in conversation with Dr Subhash Gupta, Founder and Chief of Centre for Liver and Biliary Sciences (CLBS) at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi About Dr Subhash Gupta Dr Subash Gupta is the Founder and Chief of Centre for Liver and Biliary Sciences (CLBS) at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi, India. The CLBS group is actively engaged in Liver Transplant and complex HPB surgery. His centre conducts over 300 transplants every year. He is one of the pioneers of living donor liver transplantation in India. Dr. Gupta graduated as a national talent scholar from AIIMS, New Delhi. After spending 6 years in the UK at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and later at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds, he joined Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi as a Consultant in Liver Transplant and Gastrointestinal Surgery in 1998. As cadaveric donations were rare, Dr. Gupta introduced right lobe adult-to-adult liver transplantation to the hospital. The CLBS group has introduced many innovations such as MHV and right hepatic artery clamp test, new techniques in transplants for small children, methods to avoid dual lobe transplant in obese recipients, sequential liver kidney transplant as compared to combined liver kidney transplant and techniques for splitting cadaveric liver in to two adults. He has been credited for performing liver transplants in patients with unusual and difficult conditions, such as portal biliopathy, co-existing HIV infections, and donors/recipients with situs inversus. In 2009, his team introduced the posterior sector graft for increased donor safety in India, and was instrumental in pioneering hepatic transplantation in babies under 6 months of age in India. His team has also developed guidelines on liver transplantation and the treatment of liver diseases in India. CLBS has trained many teams and surgeons from around the world in liver transplantation. Their group has helped start liver transplant in Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi, Sheikh Zayyad Hospital, Lahore, Seventh Hospital, Almaty, Kazakhstan and Dow Medical College, Karachi. Since 2010, he is a Visiting Professor of Liver Transplantation at the Institute of Postgraduate Education and Medical Research in Kolkata, India. In 2012, he was honoured by the Rotary Association of India for excellence in clinical medicine, and in the same year, he was the recipient of the Vishist Chikitsak Rattan (distinguished clinician) awarded by Delhi Medical Association. In 2016, He was awarded the prestigious “YASH BHARTI” by the Uttar Pradesh government. Dr Gupta has published over 30 papers in surgery and transplantation, and his research focuses on improving post operative management of sick recipients. Dr KK: How important is the role of your family in your journey? My family has been very supportive all through my life. In 1998, when I was a Consultant in St. James’s University Hospital, Leeds, I chose to return to India and join Sir Ganga Ram Hospital to start liver transplantation in India. At that time it did not seem like a good idea and for years had to struggle to get recognized as a talented surgeon in India. All through this period, my family stood by me and supported me on all my decisions. Dr KK: What are your feelings on receiving the award? Receiving this award is a great honor and I feel that I must do more to improve medical education in our country so that we end up having universal health coverage for every Indian citizen. Dr KK: What is your message to the community? My message to the community is that each one of us should direct efforts to improve the island that one is working in and the efforts of everyone will multiply to bring about a major change in our society. Dr KK: What changes do you suggest with regard to health policies? I feel major changes in health policies are needed. The division between private and public must go. Fresh graduates are not willing to work at low salaries in the government sector and patients are not willing to see new doctors in the private sector. Nowhere in the world does this dichotomy exist. It is time that this should be changed. Those who work in the government sector must be allowed private practice. A time will come when it will be difficult to get teachers in medical colleges.