It's a busy evening at Flury's in Calcutta's Park Street as I walk in to meet Dr Kunal Saha. The dapper US-based doctor is seated at the head of a table surrounded by two of his associates at People for Better Treatment (PBT), an NGO he runs, and an elderly couple. The couple are crying inconsolably.
As I join them at the table laden with tea and muffins, Dr Saha tells me that the couple has come all the way from Bokaro to meet him. Their 22-year-old daughter passed away a few days ago. The fourth-year student at the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law in Patiala was admitted to a private hospital there as she had dengue. She died of a falling blood platelet count which doctors at the hospital failed to monitor. 'I am convinced that this was medical mismanagement — how can a healthy girl die of dengue? They should have checked her platelets every hour,' exclaims an exasperated Dr Saha. He goes on to explain to the parents how they should go about fighting a negligence case — by first registering a complaint with the medical council of Punjab and then, if it fails to act, with the national body, the Medical Council of India (MCI).
Clearly, Dr Saha is in no mood to give up his crusade against medical malpractice in India. Spurred by last month's Supreme Court verdict awarding him Rs 11 crore as compensation for his wife's death at the hands of a few negligent Calcutta doctors, he is ready to take on — in George Bernard Shaw's words — the 'murderous absurdity' called medical service.
'My life stopped in 1998 when I lost Anu (Anuradha Saha), my wife. But I didn't remarry and start a new family,' says Dr Saha, an NRI who speaks with a slight mid-West American accent. 'I cannot stop fighting for the other Anuradhas in our country who are victims of reckless medical practice.'
Dr Saha, who seems more comfortable speaking about corruption in the Indian medical system than the travails in his personal life, is in Calcutta now to fight a few more legal battles at the Calcutta High Court, help medical negligence victims and run for elections in the West Bengal Medical Council. And no, he clarifies, there is no legal bar on his candidature even though he is an NRI.
Needless to say, he has been inundated with frantic calls for help after the momentous judgement. He has even been contacted by the family of J.S. Verma, former Chief Justice of India, who headed a panel recommending changes in laws on women's safety after the Nirbhaya incident. 'He died of medical negligence — I am helping the family to fight a case,' says Dr Saha, currently an adjunct professor and private consultant on HIV-AIDS in Columbus, Ohio.
The details of his own medical negligence case are well known. In May 1998, his wife, the 36-year-old Anuradha Saha, died after being wrongly diagnosed for an allergic reaction and administered an overdose of a steroid preparation called Depo-Medrol by doctors at AMRI, Dhakuria. After a long and arduous battle, the Supreme Court in 2009 found the doctors guilty. This year, acting on Dr Saha's appeal against the (approximately) Rs 1.5 crore compensation ordered by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the apex court raised the quantum, calculating the damages on the basis of income lost and a 6 per cent interest accrued in each of the 15 years of Dr Saha's court battle.
'I was a tad disappointed with the judgement when it was pronounced this year because of the quantum specified,' says Dr Saha, who was discouraged by his friends from fighting his case in 1998 as there was no concept of 'medico-legal cases' at that time and there was almost no chance of proving or ever winning a medical negligence case in India. 'But later when I read the full judgement and understood its implications, I was satisfied,' he says.
He stresses that the Supreme Court judgement confirmed that the quantum of compensation in medical negligence cases cannot be paltry sums. 'Earlier, courts used to award a lakh or two (rupees) or even less after people battled for several years,' says Dr Saha who filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and had to foreclose his home in America, thanks to his ongoing expensive legal battles. 'Is human life that cheap? Most doctors would have no problem paying up a lakh or two because in India they make as much in less than a week!'
Dr Saha, who graduated from NRS Medical College in 1985 and migrated to the US to pursue postgraduate and doctoral degrees at the University of Texas (MD Anderson) and then a couple of fellowships at New York's Columbia University, adds that compensation should be such that it would give some semblance of justice to the bereaved, although he admits that no amount of money can compensate the loss of loved ones.
But of course the fight doesn't end with just getting compensation. Dr Saha is looking for a systemic change in the way medical practice is conducted in India. 'It has to start with the MCI, which regulates medical practice and education across the country,' he says. 'Dr Ketan Desai (former MCI president who was arrested in 2010 on bribery charges) and his cronies are still running the show with patronage from various political parties. People even say that if Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister, he might become his health minister!'
The real danger, he continues, lies in the unbridled growth of private medical colleges across India. 'I see negligence cases increasing rapidly as the quality of doctors is going down with each passing year,' says Dr Saha. 'The chief reason for this is the mushrooming of private medical colleges.'
He goes on to say that most students go to these private institutes paying capitation fees that can go up to Rs 50 lakh. 'My MCI sources tell me that the bulk of the students in these colleges get degrees without attending a single class,' says Dr Saha. 'So in effect, you pay the capitation fee and you get a licence to kill!'
He feels the Centre should tackle this issue on a war footing. 'I don't live in India and if I fall sick, I will never go to any hospital in India,' he says. 'The US has far superior medical facilities — all our ministers go to the US to get treated. But what will happen to ordinary people here if the quality of medical professionals doesn't improve?'
In addition to taking on the irregularities at the MCI, Dr Saha is soon going to file a PIL at the Calcutta High Court against 'ballot tampering' at state medical council polls about which he says he has 'irrefutable evidence'.
So how does it feel to be the most hated man in the Indian medical fraternity?
'I have 100 crore fans in India minus doctors,' chuckles the doctor, who loves listening to Bollywood music. 'But then I have several doctors working with PBT and increasingly, I am getting complaints where doctors themselves are victims of negligence.'
He says organisations such as the Indian Medical Association often tell him that doctors do not mistreat patients deliberately. 'Well, of course they are not psychopaths. But let's take the example of drunk driving,' says Dr Saha. 'I get drunk and then run over people on the pavement and I get away with it because I didn't kill them intentionally. This was due to my negligence or reckless attitude — I cannot simply get away with murder!
'The same goes for medical practice — you don't kill with, say, overdose intentionally. But you should be punished for your reckless attitude.'
Dr Saha has had his share of criticism too. 'People even said that I was being backed by insurance companies to fight medical negligence cases,' says Dr Saha. 'I dare them to show me proof.'
How does he unwind when he is not fighting medical corruption? 'I have many, many friends, and girlfriends, in the US — I love to go clubbing,' says Dr Saha. 'Life is great in America!'
Dr Saha also plans to fulfil his wife's dream to do something about street children in India. 'Anu took LSAT to study law, but she gave it up because the plight of abused children moved her deeply and she wanted to study child psychology,' recalls Dr Saha.
He is inspired by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) founder Arvind Kejriwal's victory in Delhi. 'I want to do something for AAP,' he says.
Is a return to India for good on the cards too? 'More and more people are requesting me to return. I might not return permanently — in this day and age, I do not always need to be physically present in India to fight the system,' he says. 'Besides, there is also a threat to my life here.'
If he does choose to come back at some point, would he consider joining politics? He doesn't discount the possibility. 'After all, some rotten apples in the system do need to be kicked out.'
Well, let's hope he takes his crusading spirit to Indian politics this time.
