Magazine of March - 2010 - Rups.net

Dr. Aroon Bhavanishankar Samsi— An exceptional humanitarian doctorRa g h u n at h N. Go k a r n, Mu m b a iOn 26 December, 2009, nature dealt humanitya cruel blow by suddenly snatching away from thisworld, a doyen of the medical fraternity, Dr AroonBhavanishankar Samsi. On the early morning of 22 ndDecember, Aroon suddenly collapsed in his Bandrahome due to a brain hemorrhage and was removed toRamkrishna Mission Hospital in Khar, Mumbai. Later,for want of adequate facilities, he was moved to KEMHospital; perhaps he was destined to breathe his lasthere, in the place where he had spent several yearsattending to and curing thousands of patients from allwalks of life.A highly reputed and respected surgeon-sportsmanof exceptional qualities, Dr Samsi left this world andcreated a huge void, almost impossible to fill. He wasthe President of the Kanara Saraswat Association in1996. The large gathering of relatives, members of themedical fraternity, cricketers and sportsmen, patientsand their relatives at his funeral stood testimonyto his standing in the field of medicine and sports.Prof. Ratnakar Shetty of the Maharashtra CricketAssociation and BCCI placed a wreath on his body andspoke glowingly of Dr. Samsi’s contribution to sports.Dr. Samsi was born on 17 August, 1935. He hada brilliant educational career and joined G.S. MedicalCollege in Mumbai in 1957 for his MBBS degree.He obtained his Master of Surgery from the sameinstitution in 1961, and chose to work in its alliedKEM Hospital where he became Lecturer in Surgery in1965, and rose to become Assistant Professor in 1967and Professor in 1969.He was appointed as Head of the Department ofSurgery in 1986 and continued in this capacity tillhis retirement in 1993. He was particularly admiredand respected by his peers as much for his excellentfoundation of clinical practice and judgment as forhis clean and neat surgical skills. He was also anexaminer for many universities, in various branches ofmedicine.While at KEM Hospital, Dr. Samsi and his teampioneered the introduction of dialysis which becamea boon to patients with kidney disorders. He wasassociated with Dr. P.K. Sen who undertook thefirst-ever heart transplant inIndia. In 1983, he started aHomeopathic Clinic in KEMHospital but since the hospitalwas run on the Allopathicsystem, he had to close thecentre. However, he continuedto practice Homeopathy onhis own, till the last. He wasalso responsible for establishing a Cancer Centre.Here again, due to the lack of proper publicity, whenthe Centre could not draw patients, he used histime fruitfully by attending to patients of relatives,administering homeopathic medicines. His famespread far and wide, and the Centre which was scarcelyvisited suddenly started getting patients in hundreds.His desire for widening remedial facilities in differentways failed for reasons unrelated to his lofty aim. Hisremedial concepts were ahead of his times.Dr. Samsi was conscientious in all his activities andobserved the Hippocratic Oath, which he had takenafter graduating from medical college, in letter andspirit. He believed in ethical practice. His philosophyof life was to serve the patient to cure him and relievehis agony. He enjoyed this work.Dr. Samsi was an excellent teacher, and many of hisstudents have become highly successful doctors andgained fame in private practice. Had he decided tostart private practice he would have become a popularsurgeon and prospered financially; but he stuck tohis alma mater and a Municipal general hospital toserve the less fortunate not out of compulsion but bypreference. He was not one to be lured by the thoughtof making money; rich or poor he treated all with thesame devotion and skill. While treating a patient, hewould bring himself to the patient’s level and instillconfidence in the patient that he/she would be cured.The doctor in Dr. Samsi did not rest even afterretirement in 1993. He was invited by the managementof D.Y. Patil Medical College, New Bombay, as Head ofthe Department of Surgery and to attend to patients inthe Rajawadi Municipal Hospital, Ghatkopar, Mumbai.He worked in Rajawadi Hospital till his last days.Kanara Saraswat Vol. 91, No.3, March 20103