Dr Atul Gawande is a man of many parts. A second-generation NRI, the Boston-based surgeon and Harvard professor is a MacArthur Foundation 'Genius' grant recipient and also now a very highly rated writer, published in many of America's leading magazines, including the New Yorker. His new book, Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance (review on next page), has been hailed as a masterpiece, winning rave reviews both in the US and UK. In an exclusive interview with Ashish Kumar Sen, he talks about his experiences working in India, and his impressions of Indian doctors.
You say you felt a need to write after you became a doctor. So, has writing helped you become a better doctor?
Your book has sections on your 'India experience' too. Can you tell us a bit more about it?
How do you think these "adverse conditions" have helped doctors in India? Has it helped them to improvise, develop different solutions?
You talk about the massive drive in India to eradicate polio while at the same time many more people are dying of other diseases like malaria. Does the Indian public health system have its priorities wrong?
You describe a doctor you accompanied, Ashish Motewar, seeing some 36 patients in three hours. I assume that's a higher rate than in the US.
What does a doctor sacrifice by dealing with so many patients in that small a span of time?
Are doctors in the West more cautious because there are concerns about malpractice lawsuits?
Is the medical malpractice phenomenon harming Indian healthcare?
You talk about doctors in India knowing how to administer chemotherapy drugs, something that would be done by a specialist in the West. Do you believe doctors in the West tend to be over-specialised?
