Few years back, I met him at his Pune hospital in the wee hours of the morning. Our common friend, the one and only doctor-actor Mohan Agashe, had virtually set up the face-to-face meeting with such alacrity that only he is capable of.
As he entered the premises finding his way amid the ocean of barging employees, I sensed his simplicity and unassuming nature at first sight. There was no defining flourish that most doctors seem to relish, especially while walking towards their cabins, surrounded by obliging support staff and umpteen patients, waiting for their turn with trepidation writ on their faces and body language.
His broad smile conveyed all that there was to know about him. The rest of the conversation was more for the record, although there was nothing formal about it. The interview was a breeze, rarely experienced at a doctor's clinic.
I am recounting it here for the discerning reader's benefit. Here goes:
It may seem paradoxical that a doctor should insist on being ‘patient’ in the course of treating his patients, but that has been Dr. Sanjay Gupte’s supreme belief, that success invariably becomes a foregone conclusion when one assiduously pursues an ethical objective.
His chosen career as an obstetrician and gynaecologist has progressed from strength to strength in the guiding light of a single motto: Patient First
No wonder, he continues to serve countless second-generation cases, conducting deliveries of mothers who were themselves born in Gupte Hospital. No wonder, there are umpteen ‘Gupte borns’ who have joined the hospital as doctors, nurses, and attendant staff.
Dr. Gupte’s school days kept him equally busy in the classroom, playground, and on the stage. And yet, deep within, he always aspired to become a doctor although no one in his family belonged to the medical profession. His role model during his growing-up years was Dr. K H Sancheti who stayed in close proximity and went on to scale great heights in medicine amid extremely trying circumstances.
Why did Dr. Gupte make OBGYN his chosen vocation?
The answer to this empathic question dates back to his edifying days as a medical student. One fateful night, he had to attend to an emergency which sadly claimed the life of a pregnant lady owing to eclamptic fits. In the aftermath of the tragedy, he sensed that such deaths are entirely preventable, and he intuitively resolved to devote a lifetime to obstetrics. The rest, as they don’t often say, was history, geography, and civics combined!
During his internship following his MBBS from BJ Medical College, he was drawn to OBGYN which he viewed as an ‘happy branch’ celebrating motherhood. His devotion to the discipline coupled with his academic brilliance saw him secure first rank and Gold Medal in both MD and DGO exams in 1977.
Being a teacher at heart, he chose to serve his alma mater as a fulltime lecturer. After three years, he decided to take the plunge into private practice, but the path was laden with unforeseen challenges. After many highs and lows, he managed to set up a small, six-bedded hospital in a neighbourhood building, thanks to the timely help of two noble souls: the bank manager who sanctioned a Rs 60,000 loan despite the unanimous view against it, and the deputy collector who awarded the builder a cement licence in the era of restricted supply which expedited the construction of the building that housed his humble hospital.
The 750-square feet hospital had an OT, consulting room, waiting room, and even a tiny emergency ward. This iconic hospital conducted deliveries for Pune’s who’s who of the time, as back then, people valued a good doctor, not merely good facilities. Subsequently, he moved to a 15-bed hospital which also had a few private rooms. In 1992, he set up a 20-bed hospital at Bhandarkar Road which today houses an IVF clinic. Adjoining it are the current Gupte hospital premises, Pune’s first private specialty hospital to secure an ISO. Besides, there are two OPD extension clinics at Baner and Magarpatta.
Under Dr. Gupte’s visionary leadership, Gupte Hospital has grown from strength to strength to become a premier Centre for Research in Reproduction and an NABH-accredited single specialty model healthcare delivery system. His passion for teaching has made the Hospital a best-in-class teaching centre imparting basic and advanced training courses to help practitioners enhance their OBGYN clinical skills under his expert guidance and supervision.
Today, Dr. Sanjay Gupte is unanimously revered as a towering icon of the medical fraternity, best known for his unflinching commitment to patient care and wellbeing in a fulfilling career spanning more than four decades. His penchant for maintaining the highest standards of clinical practice within the framework of ethics motivated him to acquire a degree in legal science, and he is now regarded as the leading authority on diverse medico-legal issues in clinical practice. He has been diligently offering medico legal consultations free of cost 24X7 since the past 15 years.
As a medico-legal expert, Dr. Gupte has tirelessly advocated stringent standards in clinical practice. His depth into the subject matter has made him an encyclopaedia of the Indian judiciary system as applied to medical practice, statutory laws, and case laws. He regularly conducts knowledge sharing sessions on:
Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTP Act)
PCPNDT ActRegistration of Birth and DeathMedical Council of India ActOrgan transplantation actBombay Nursing Home Registration ActClinical establishment actLabour Laws and the Medical EstablishmentShop & establishment actBio medical waste management actConsumer Protection ActVarious issues pertaining to genetic, clinical, and pre-natal diagnostic procedures focused on answering elementary questions like eligibility to set up genetic clinics, Registration of births and deaths and Surrogacy and its ethics: surrogacy laws, surrogate mother criteria, risks, and rights and duties in relation to surrogacy
Constantly driven by the urge to update the wealth of his rich experiential knowledge, Dr. Gupte has authored and presented several incisive papers at national and international forums. His diligence has proved rewarding on several counts in copious ways – from his student days till date. He still vividly recalls the sheer ecstasy he experienced as a 16-year old starry-eyed lad, when he was chosen from 3000 aspirants across India for a one-year US stint under the aegis of the International Scholarship of the American Field Service, or the pure elation he has relished in full measure on numerous occasions:n getting the coveted medal for securing the first rank in the MD examination,
on incepting his own hospital and getting an honorary teachership in his alma mater, both at the same time,
on his unanimous election as the president of The Federation of Obstetrics & Gynaecological Societies of India,
on pioneering the Medicolegal movement with the first-ever National Medicolegal Conference,
on being conferred FRCOG, honoris causa (Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) by the Royal College Obstetrics and Gynaecology, London,
on winning the highest number of votes in the Maharashtra Medical Council, 2009 and becoming the chairman of its ethics committee,
on presenting his incisive views on reducing maternal mortality at the National Population Council to the then Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, along with senior cabinet members and chief ministers,
on initiating the “Asmita movement” for underprivileged girls - a cause intimately close to his heart and deeply embedded in his mind, and
on being an integral member of the victorious college cricket team, which to him remains a feat as monumental as winning the world cup
It's the same never-say-die spirit that has inspired him to steer pathbreaking innovations like:the indigenization of a key, cost-effective instrument used for the uterine thermoablation procedure, that has in turn helped avoid the unfortunate eventuality of hysterectomies in countless cases. The patented machine is being used by over 25,000 doctors.
the innovations in the C-Section surgical techniques which have now become an integral part of standard practice
the pioneering work in the oft-neglected areas of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, both grave pregnancy complications responsible for morbidity and mortality which highlight the importance of early antenatal care, clinical risk assessment, biomarkers, close vigilance, calcium, and nutritional supplementation,
the observational study to determine the frequency of occurrence of glucose intolerance in the early weeks of pregnancy,
the painstaking effort to analyze the relationship between first-trimester levels of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) neonates and preterm births towards assessing the predictive utility for these events,
the incisive probe into the presence of reduced spiralling in intrauterine fetal demise that warrants a search for possible cord entanglement along with established causes, such as chromosomal and congenital anomalies,
the oral acyclovir therapy for varicella in pregnancy,
the emphasis on proper diagnosis of failed pregnancies which saw him successfully handle a complex case of a woman who had in the past suffered 11 failed pregnancies following miscarriages, before she eventually celebrated motherhood at Gupte Hospital,
the scrupulous social movement for eradicating the evils of antenatal sex selection and feticide of female fetuses,
the profound study on the significance of sub-clinical hypothyroidism in pregnancy outcomes,
the launch of the PC part of the PCPNDT act (Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques(PCPNDT) Act) when it was first formulated in the state of Maharashtra,
or the ongoing movement for upholding patients’ rights and awareness of patients’ safety through ceaseless and countless lectures and collaborations
Dr. Gupte’s practice is defined by his relentless activism which explains the length and breadth of his fraternity-wide and community-wide representations like:ember of the Medical Council of India (MCI) ethics committee which is a supreme governing medical authority of India which formulates & implements the medical ethics for the nation.
Chairman, Ethics Committee, Maharashtra Medical Council – this is a state body which formulates & implements medical ethics in the state of Maharashtra in India
Ex-member of Maharashtra women’s rights commission. This is the body which looks after and implements women’s rights in the state of Maharashtra in India
Member of ethics committee of Indian law society (ILS) dealing with ethics of various research projects.
Member of Central Supervisory Board of PCPNDT act (Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) - highest national body which supervises implementation of the act for saving the girl children by preventing sex selected termination to improve the gender ratio.
Author of the policy on surrogacy for Maharashtra Medical Council, a state body which governs the medical practice in the state of Maharashtra of India
Member of the committee appointed for formulating clinical establishment act which will govern the entire medical establishment including hospital & clinics and their working in the state.
Chairman of ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) Technical Research Committee
President of FOGSI for the year 2010
Founder member of FOGSI ethics committee
Ex-National Convener "Save the Mother & Newborn National Initiative"
President DIPSI 2013 (DIABETES IN PREGNANCY STUDY GROUP – INDIA)
Secretary General World Gestosis Organization
From time to time, Dr. Gupte has shared his candid views on many issues plaguing his profession. He attributes the rising number of caesarean deliveries in contemporary times to sedentary lifestyles, gestational diabetes, and BP complications. Besides, the medico-legal angle, he feels, also prompts doctors and patients alike to opt for the low-risk caesarean option.
He also puts the IVF success rates in perspective with resounding conviction. Many IVF centres claim 80 to 100% first attempt success rates (as against WHO estimates of 40 to 42%) which is unethical and downright misleading. More importantly, the crucial fact that the need for IVF must be ascertained by the AMH test is not shared with the patient. Consequently, many cases of normal AMH are subjected to IVF, where a normal pregnancy could have been possible after a few years. The patient must necessarily be made aware of the fact that all infertility protocols must be duly followed before opting for IVF, including sperm formation, egg count, sperm-egg contact process, tubal test, laparoscopy, and the like.
Lamenting the growing unethical practices in medicine, Dr. Gupte has identified the unruly corporatization of hospitals and outdated government acts as their root cause. The mindless fixation with multi-speciality setups that are intimately connected with medical insurance vendors has seen many business people setting up lavish diagnostic centers offering commission to doctors for providing patients. This unholy nexus has rendered single speciality private hospitals virtually unviable.
To make matters worse, the individual doctors are not allowed to advertise their services which further isolates them from the mainstream; consequently, the patients end up being the biggest losers in the bargain. They are deprived of the human connect with conscientious doctors who put their hearts and souls in providing reliable, ethical, and cost effective treatments. The patient deserves to get timely, transparent, and comprehensive advice: what is the exact disorder, what are the options in terms of therapies and procedures, what are the complications, and what are the risks. Sadly, corporate setups profit from keeping patients in the dark.
Dr. Gupte cites two key reasons why the state medical council is rendered a toothless tiger: one, absence of clear-cut provisions for renewal of registration and its requirements, two, its restricted applicability to individual allopathic practitioners which helps corporate hospitals, business-centric healthcare services and alternative medicine practitioners escape the net of regulation.
His greatest challenges, by his own admission, are not clinical; in fact, they thrive outside the operating room, far away from the home ground of medical ordeals and surgical procedures.
To this day, he finds it extremely difficult to convey the certainty and possibility of tragic outcomes (after having left no stone unturned to try and reverse the course) to patients and their kith and kin. Equally formidable is the challenge of consoling, counselling, and motivating student doctors and colleagues who have to face the atrocities of violent and abusive patients and bear the burden of medico-legal cases slapped against them for no fault of theirs.
This fitness fanatic, compulsive early-morning jogger, and die-hard cricket and baseball enthusiast has many facets to his persona, but the crowning glories are undoubtedly his unassuming nature, his unconditional accessibility, and his unique ability to put his success in perspective in a precise, purposeful, and matter-of-fact manner.‘Patient First’, he says and moves on!